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LIBRARY OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 
 
 298 
 F268 
 
 I .H.S . 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2012 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/fateofpersecutorOOIund 
 
The Fate of the Persecutors 
 
 of the 
 
 Prophet Joseph Smith 
 
 Being a compilation of historical data on 
 the personal testimony of Joseph Smith, 
 his greatness, his persecutions and prose- 
 cutions, conspiracies against his life, his 
 imprisonments, his martyrdom, his fun- 
 eral and burial, the trial of his mur- 
 derers, the sorrow and mourning of his 
 followers, the fate of those who perse- 
 cuted and killed him, and the attitude of 
 his followers who also endured and 
 passed through many of 
 these experiences. 
 
 Compiled by N. B. Lundwall 
 
 BOOKCRAFT PUBLISHERS 
 SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH 
 
Copyrighted by 
 
 N. B. LUNDWALL 
 
 1952 
 
 LITHOGRAPHED IN U.S.A. 
 BY 
 
JOSEPH SMITH, THE PROPHET 
 
HYRUM SMITH 
 
put 
 
 FOREWORD 
 
 The Prophet Joseph Smith was subject to constant persecution 
 from the time of his First Vision until his death. Scores of times 
 he was brought by enemies before the courts of the land but never 
 found guilty of the things for which he was charged. Readers of 
 his tempestuous life constantly wonder about the fate of his perse- 
 cutors who often made unhappy his life and finally murdered him. 
 
 In this book Brother Lundwall has collected all the material 
 bearing on the subject available to him. Much of the collection 
 is found in the History of the Church and in various Church publi- 
 cations, but has not before been assembled under one cover. Some 
 of the material is distinctly new even to experienced students of 
 the life of the Prophet. 
 
 The Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ as taught by the Prophet 
 Joseph Smith is the gospel of love and forgiveness. The material 
 found within this cover does not represent hate of the persecutors 
 of the people but sorrow for them. They serve, however, as a 
 warning to those who without proper investigation allow their 
 prejudices to lead them to actions contrary to the spirit of right 
 and justice. 
 
 Certainly this book will be read with challenging interest 
 by the members of the Church and by others. We should be 
 grateful to the compiler for the long hours of tedious work spent 
 in making the compilation. 
 
 — John A. Widtsoe 
 
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 
 
 This Compilation represents some twelve years of research, 
 not, however, continuous application. In collecting these data grate- 
 ful acknowledgment is hereby expressed to the following: 
 
 To Raymond E. Nilson for magnificent assistance in making 
 this publication possible. 
 
 To my wife, Josephine F. Lundwall, for the fine cooperation 
 and assistance rendered on this and on all other of my compilations. 
 
 To Olof and Lucille Lundwall in assisting in proofreading. 
 
 To the following who have so courteously given much of the 
 information that is incorporated in this book : 
 
 Ralph D. Thomson, Assistant Librarian, University of Utah. 
 
 Leslie E. Bliss, Librarian, Huntington Library. 
 
 Dr. Elmer Belt of Los Angeles, Calif. 
 
 Mrs. Bertha H. Martin, Santa Rosa, Calif. 
 
 Mrs. Edw. M. Bunker, American Fork, Utah. 
 
 Mrs. Donald E. Judkins, Mesa, Arizona. 
 
 Juanita Brooks, St. George, Utah. 
 
 Robert W. Hill, Keeper of Manuscripts, N.Y. Public Library. 
 
 George F. Egert, Nauvoo, 111., (for air photos of Nauvoo). 
 
 Ephraim Tolman, Bountiful, Utah, (for photos of Liberty Jail 
 
 and letter of the Prophet to his wife, Emma) . 
 Hyrum A. Knight, Carthage, 111. (for photo of Carthage Jail). 
 Pres. Israel Smith and John Blackmore of Independence, Mo., 
 
 for courteous willingness to furnish data. 
 Illinois Public Library, Springfield, 111. 
 Earl Olsen, Historian's Office, Salt Lake City, Utah. 
 
 To the hundreds who expressed an intense interest in the com- 
 ing forth of this Compilation from the press. 
 
 Gratitude is expressed to Dr. John A. Widtsoe, for reading the 
 page proof and writing the "Foreword" to this book. Dr. Widtsoe 
 has written the book reviews for all former compilations. His 
 genuine friendship, his learning, his humility and greatness are 
 appreciated and prized. 
 
 Appreciation is also expressed to Elder Mark E. Petersen for 
 suggestions offered, and for his friendship which was first formed 
 in 1917. 
 
 N. B. Lundwall, 
 
 Compiler and Publisher 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Chapter Page 
 
 1. The Prophet Joseph Smith Speaks for Himself 1 
 
 2. The Greatness of the Prophet Joseph 12 
 
 3. Persecutions Endured by the Prophet and 
 
 the Saints 30 
 
 4. Persecution Led by Modern Preachers 68 
 
 5. Conspiracies Against the Life of the 
 
 Prophet Joseph 78 
 
 6. Imprisonment in Liberty Prison 102 
 
 7. The Only Way to Escape Martyrdom 119 
 
 8. Personal Farewells of the Prophet to His Friends— .149 
 
 9. The Martyrdom .....164 
 
 10. The Prophet's Body not Permitted to be 
 
 Mutilated 226 
 
 11. Comments of Friends and Foes on the 
 
 Martyrdom 234 
 
 12. Preparation and Funeral of the Martyrs 242 
 
 13. The Sorrow and Mourning of the Saints 253 
 
 14. The Identity and Trial of the Murderers 268 
 
 15. The Prophet Joseph in Zion's Camp 280 
 
 16. Physical and Mental Suffering of Persecutors 292 
 
 Addenda— Prophecies Fulfilled and Yet Future ......353-354 
 
 Addenda B — Memories of Carthage Jail 359 
 
 Addenda C — Church Historian Records Heavenly Light..360 
 Index 361 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Page 
 
 Frontispiece, the Prophet Joseph Smith Ill 
 
 Hyrum Smith IV 
 
 Front and rear of "Father Johnson's" home, Hiram, 70 
 
 Liberty Prison as it was in 1838-39 103 
 
 Liberty Prison showing construction of its walls 103 
 
 Photographic copy of letter from the Prophet to his 
 
 wife Emma 112-14 
 
 The Nauvoo Mansion and the Nauvoo House, air photo.— 121 
 
 Nauvoo as it is today (1950), air photo 128-29 
 
 The Nauvoo Mansion 131 
 
 The Old Homestead 131 
 
 The Prophet Joseph addressing the Nauvoo Legion 155 
 
 Carthage Jail in 1855 166 
 
 Well at Carthage Jail in 1855 166 
 
 Carthage Jail as it looks today (1952) 175 
 
 Photographic copy of letter written by the Prophet 
 
 to Lawyer Browning on June 27, 1844 195 
 
 Stairway in the Carthage Jail 200 
 
 Stairway landing in the Carthage Jail ...... - 201 
 
 Re-interred Graves of the Martyrs 252 
 
CHAPTER 1 
 
 The Prophet Joseph Smith Speaks for Himself 
 
 I was born in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred 
 and five, on the twenty-third day of December, in the town of 
 Sharon, Windsor County, State of Vermont. My father, Joseph 
 Smith, Sr., left the State of Vermont and moved to Palmyra, Ontario 
 (now Wayne) County, in the State of New York, when I was in my 
 tenth year, or thereabouts. In about four years after my father's 
 arrival in Palmyra, he moved with his family into Manchester, in 
 the same County of Ontario. 
 
 Some time in the second year after our removal to Manchester, 
 there was in the place where we lived an unusual excitement on the 
 subject of religion. It commenced with the Methodists, but soon 
 became general among all the sects in that region. Indeed, the whole 
 district seemed affected by it, and great multitudes united them- 
 selves to the different religious parties, which created no small stir 
 and division amongst the people, some crying, "Lo here!" and 
 others, "Lo there !" Some were contending for the Methodist faith, 
 some for the Presbyterian, and some for the Baptist. 
 
 For notwithstanding the great love which the converts to these 
 different faiths expressed at the time of their conversion, and the 
 great zeal manifested by the respective clergy, who were active in 
 getting up and promoting this extraordinary scene of religious feel- 
 ing, in order to have everybody converted, as they were pleased to 
 call it, let them join what sect they pleased — yet when the converts 
 began to file off, some to one party and some to another, it was seen 
 that the seemingly good feeling of both the priests and the converts 
 were more pretended than real ; for a scene of great confusion and 
 bad feeling ensued; priest contending against priest and convert 
 against convert; so that all good feelings one for another, if ever 
 they had any, were entirely lost in the strife of words and a contest 
 about opinions. 
 
 I was at this time in my fifteenth year. My father's family was 
 proselyted to the Presbyterian faith, and four of them joined the 
 church, namely — my mother, Lucy ; my brothers, Hyrum and Sam- 
 uel Harrison, and my sister, Sophronia. 
 
 During this time of great excitement, my mind was called up 
 to serious reflection and great uneasiness ; but though my feelings 
 were deep and often poignant, still I kept myself aloof from all these 
 parties, though I attended their several meetings as often as occa- 
 sion would permit. In process of time my mind became somewhat 
 partial to the Methodist Sect, and I felt some desire to be united 
 with them but so great were the confusion and strife among the 
 different denominations, that it was impossible for a person young 
 as I was, and so unacquainted with men and things, to come to any 
 certain conclusion who was right and who was wrong. 
 
2 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 My mind at times was greatly excited, the cry and tumult were 
 so great and incessant. 
 
 In the midst of this war of words and tumult of opinions I often 
 said to myself, What is to be done? Who of all these parties is 
 right ; or, are they all wrong together ? If any one of them be right, 
 which is it, and how shall I know it? 
 
 While I was laboring under the extreme difficulties caused by 
 the contests of these parties of religionists, I was one day reading 
 the Epistle of James, first chapter and fifth verse, which reads : "If 
 any of you lack ivisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men 
 liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." 
 
 Never did any passage of scripture come with more power to 
 the heart of man than this did at this time to mine. It seemed to 
 enter with great force into every feeling of my heart. I reflected 
 on it again and again, knowing that if any person needed wisdom 
 from God, I did ; for how to act I did not know, and unless I could 
 get more wisdom than I then had, I would never know; for the 
 teachers of religion of the different sects understood the same 
 passage of scripture so differently as to destroy all confidence in 
 settling the question by an appeal to the Bible. 
 
 At length I came to the conclusion that I must either remain 
 in darkness and confusion, or else I must do as James directs, that 
 is, ask of Gad. I at length came to the determination to ask of God, 
 concluding that if He gave wisdom to them that lacked wisdom, 
 and would give liberally, and not upbraid, I might venture. 
 
 So in accordance with this, my determination to ask of God, I 
 retired to the woods to make the attempt. It was on the morning of 
 a beautiful, clear day, early in the spring of eighteen hundred and 
 twenty. It was the first time in my life that I had made such an 
 attempt, for amidst all my anxieties I had never as yet made the 
 attempt to pray vocally. 
 
 After I had retired to the place I had previously designed to 
 go, having looked around me, and finding myself alone, I kneeled 
 down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God. I had 
 scarcely done so, when immediately I was seized upon by some 
 power which entirely overcame me, and had such an astonishing 
 influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak. 
 Thick darkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a 
 time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction. 
 
 But exerting all my power to call upon God to deliver me out of 
 the power of this enemy which had seized upon me, and at the very 
 moment when I was ready to sink in despair and abandon myself to 
 destruction — not to an imaginary ruin, but to the power of some 
 actual being from the unseen world, who had such marvelous 
 power as I had never before felt in any being — just at this moment 
 of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above 
 the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell 
 upon me. 
 
 It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the 
 enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw 
 two personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, 
 standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling 
 
THE PROPHET JOSEPH SPEAKS FOR HIMSELF 3 
 
 me by name, and said, pointing to the other — "This is my Beloved 
 Son, hear Him!" 
 
 My object in going to inquire of the Lord was to know which 
 of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join. No 
 sooner, therefore, did I get possession of myself, so as to be able to 
 speak, than I asked the Personages who stood above me in the 
 light, which of all the sects was right — and which I should join. 
 
 I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were 
 all wrong and the Personage who addressed me said that all their 
 creeds were an abomination in His sight, that those professors were 
 all corrupt; that "they draw near to me with their lips, but their 
 hearts are far from me ; they teach for doctrines the commandments 
 of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power 
 thereof." 
 
 He again forbade me to join with any of them ; and many other 
 things did He say unto me, ivhich I cannot write at this time. When 
 I came to myself again, I found myself lying on my back, looking 
 up into heaven. 
 
 THE HEAVENLY VISION 
 
 By Orson Pratt 
 
 (Note: Elder Orson Pratt was very familiar with the home life 
 of the Prophet Joseph. He stayed at the home of the Prophet when in 
 from his missions and knew him as a husband and father, and was 
 intimately associated with him in his private affairs. The following 
 account of the heavenly vision can therefore be relied upon as a true 
 narration of the Prophet to him. This excerpt is taken from a pamph- 
 let issued in Edinburgh in 1840, printed by Ballantyne and Hughes, 
 and entitled: "Interesting Account of Several Remarkable Visions, 
 and of the Late Discovery of Ancient American Records by O. 
 Pratt.") 
 
 He, therefore, retired to a secret place, in a grove, but a short 
 distance from his father's house, and knelt down, and began to call 
 upon the Lord. At first, he was severely tempted by the powers of 
 darkness, which endeavoured to overcome him; but he continued 
 to seek for deliverance, until darkness gave way from his mind; 
 and he was enabled to pray, in fervency of the spirit, and in faith. 
 And, while thus pouring out his soul, anxiously desiring an answer 
 from God, he, at length, saiv a very bright and glorious light in the 
 heavens above; tuhich, at first, seemed to be at a considerable 
 distance. He continued praying, while the light appeared to be 
 gradually descending towards him; and, as it drew nearer, it in- 
 creased in brightness, and magnitude, so that, by the time that it 
 reached the tops of the trees, the tuhole ivilderness, for some 
 distance around, ivas illuminated in a most glorious and brilliant 
 manner. He expected to have seen the leaves and boughs of the 
 trees consumed, as soon as the light came in contact ivith them; but, 
 perceiving that it did not produce that effect, he ivas encouraged 
 with the hopes of being able to endure its presence. It continued 
 descending, slowly, until it rested upon the earth, and he ivas 
 enveloped in the midst of it. When it first came upon him, it pro- 
 duced a peculiar sensation throughout his whole system; and, im- 
 
4 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITHS PERSECUTORS 
 
 mediately, his mind was caught away, from the natural objects 
 with which he was surrounded; and he was enwrapped in a heavenly 
 vision, and saw two glorious personages, who exactly resembled 
 each other in their features or likeness. He was informed, that his 
 sins iv ere forgiven. He was also informed upon the subjects, which 
 had for some time previously agitated his mind, viz., that all the 
 religious denominations were believing in incorrect doctrines ; and, 
 consequently, that none of them was acknowledged of God, as his 
 church and kingdom. And he was expressly commanded, to go not 
 after them; and he received a promise that the true doctrine, the 
 fulness of the gospel, should, at some future time, be made known 
 to him; after which, the vision withdrew, leaving his mind in a 
 state of calmness and peace, indescribable. 
 
 MORONI'S VISIT 
 
 I continued to pursue my common vocations in life until the 
 twenty-first of September, one thousand eight hundred and twenty- 
 three, all of the time suffering severe persecution at the hands of all 
 classes of men, both religious and irreligious, because I continued 
 to affirm that I had seen a vision. 
 
 During the space of time which intervened between the time 
 I had the vision and the year eighteen hundred and twenty-three — 
 having been forbidden to join any of the religious sects of the day, 
 and being of very tender years, and persecuted by those who ought 
 to have been my friends and to have treated me kindly, and if they 
 supposed me to be deluded to have endeavored in a proper and 
 affectionate manner to have reclaimed me — I was left to all kinds 
 of temptations ; and mingling with all kinds of society, I frequently 
 fell into many foolish errors, and displayed the weakness of my 
 youth, and the foibles of human nature; which, I am sorry to say 
 led me into divers temptations, offensive in the sight of God. In 
 making this confession, no one need suppose me guilty of any great 
 or malignant sins. A disposition to commit such was never in my 
 nature. 
 
 In consequence of these things, I often felt condemned for my 
 weakness and imperfections; when, on the evening of the above 
 mentioned twenty-first of September, after I had retired to bed 
 for the night, I betook myself to prayer and supplication to 
 Almighty God for forgiveness of all my sins and follies and also 
 for a manifestation to me, that I might know of my state and stand- 
 ing before Him; for I had full confidence in obtaining a divine 
 manifestation, as I previously had done. 
 
 While I was thus in the act of calling upon God I discovered 
 a light appearing in my room, which continued to increase until 
 the room was lighter than at noonday, when immediately a person- 
 age appeared at my bedside, standing in the air, for his feet did 
 not touch the floor. 
 
 He had on a loose robe of most exquisite whiteness. It was a 
 whiteness beyond anything earthly I had ever seen ; nor do I believe 
 that any earthly thing could be made to appear so exceedingly white 
 and brilliant. His hands were naked, and his arms also, a little 
 
THE PROPHET JOSEPH SPEAKS FOR HIMSELF 5 
 
 above the wrists; so, also, were his feet naked, as were his legs, 
 a little above the ankles. His head and neck were bare. I could 
 discover that he had no other clothing on but this robe, as it was 
 open, so that I could see into his bosom. 
 
 Not only was his robe exceedingly white, but his whole person 
 was glorious beyond description, and his countenance truly like 
 lightning. The room was extremely light, but not so very bright 
 as immediately around his person. When I first looked upon him I 
 was afraid, but the fear soon left me. 
 
 He called me by name, and said unto me that he was a 
 messenger sent from the presence of God to me, and that his name 
 was Moroni ; that God had a work for me to do ; and that my name 
 should be had for good and evil among all nations, kindreds and 
 tongues, or that it should be both good and evil spoken of among all 
 people. 
 
 He said there was a book deposited, written upon gold plates, 
 giving an account of the former inhabitants of this continent, and 
 the source from whence they sprang. He also said that the fulness 
 of the everlasting Gospel was contained in it; as delivered by the 
 Savior to the ancient inhabitants. 
 
 Also, that there were two stones in silver bows — and these 
 stones, fastened to a breastplate, constituted what is called the 
 Urim and Thummim — deposited with the plates ; and the possession 
 and use of these stones were what constituted "seers" in ancient or 
 former times ; and that God had prepared them for the purpose of 
 translating the book. 
 
 After telling me these things, he commenced quoting the 
 prophecies of the Old Testament. He first quoted part of the third 
 chapter of Malachi, and he quoted also the fourth or last chapter 
 of the same prophecy, though with a little variation from the way 
 it reads in our Bibles. Instead of quoting the first verse as it reads 
 in our books, he quoted it thus : 
 
 "For behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven, and all 
 the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall burn as stubble; for 
 they that come shall burn them, saith the Lord of Hosts, that it 
 shall leave them neither root nor branch." 
 
 And again he quoted the fifth verse thus : "Behold, I tuill reveal 
 unto you the Priesthood, by the hand of Elijah, the Prophet, before 
 the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord" 
 
 He also quoted the next verse differently : "And he shall plant 
 in the hearts of the children the promise made to the fathers, and 
 the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers; if it were not 
 so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at His coming." 
 
 In addition to these he quoted the eleventh chapter of Isaiah, 
 saying that it was about to be fulfilled. He quoted also the third 
 chapter of Acts, twenty-second and twenty-third verses, precisely 
 as they stand in our New Testament. He said that the prophet was 
 Christ, but the day had not yet come when they who would not 
 hear His voice should be cut off from among the people, but soon 
 would come. 
 
 He also quoted the second chapter of Joel, from the twenty- 
 eighth verse to the last. He also said that this was not yet fulfilled, 
 
6 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 but was soon to be. And he further stated that the fulness of the 
 Gentiles was soon to come in. He quoted many other passages of 
 scripture, and offered many explanations which cannot be men- 
 tioned here. 
 
 Again he told me that when I got those plates of which he had 
 spoken — for the time that they should be obtained was not yet ful- 
 filled — I should not show them to any person; neither the breast- 
 plate with the Urim and Thummim ; only to those to whom I should 
 be commanded to show them ; if I did I should be destroyed. While 
 he was conversing with me about the plates, the vision was opened 
 to my mind that I could see the place where the plates were de- 
 posited, and that so clearly and distinctly that I knew the place 
 again when I visited it. 
 
 After this communication, I saw the light in the room begin 
 to gather immediately around the person of him who had been 
 speaking to me, and it continued to do so, until the room was again 
 left dark, except just around him, when instantly I saw as it were, 
 a conduit open right up into heaven, and he ascended till he entirely 
 disappeared, and the room was left as it had been before this 
 heavenly light had made its appearance. 
 
 I lay musing on the singularity of the scene, and marveling 
 greatly at what had been told to me by this extraordinary messen- 
 ger, when, in the midst of my meditation, I suddenly discovered 
 that my room was again beginning to get lighted, and in an instant, 
 as it were, the same heavenly messenger was again by my bedside. 
 
 He commenced, and again related the very same things which 
 he had done at his first visit, without the least variation; which 
 having done, he informed me of great judgments which were com- 
 ing upon the earth, with great desolations by famine, sword, and 
 pestilence, and that these grievous judgments would come on the 
 earth in this generation. Having related these things, he again 
 ascended as he had done before. 
 
 By this time, so deep were the impressions made on my mind, 
 that sleep had fled from my eyes, and I lay overwhelmed in aston- 
 ishment at what I had both seen and heard. But what was my 
 surprise when again I beheld the same messenger at my bedside, 
 and heard him rehearse or repeat over again to me the same things 
 as before ; and added a caution to me, telling me that Satan would 
 try to tempt me (in consequence of the indigent circumstances of 
 my father's family), to get the plates for the purpose of getting 
 rich. This he forbade me, saying that I must have no other object 
 in view in getting the plates but to glorify God, and must not be 
 influenced by any other motive than that of building His Kingdom, 
 otherwise I could not get them. 
 
 After his third visit he again ascended into heaven as before, 
 and I was again left to ponder on the strangeness of what I had just 
 experienced ; when almost immediately after the heavenly messen- 
 ger had ascended from me for the third time, the cock crowed, and 
 I found that the day was approaching, so that our interviews must 
 have occupied the whole of that night. 
 
 I shortly after arose from my bed, and, as usual, went to the 
 necessary labors of the day; but, in attempting to work as at 
 
THE PROPHET JOSEPH SPEAKS FOR HIMSELF 7 
 
 other times, I found my strength so exhausted as to render me 
 entirely unable. My father, who was laboring- along with me, dis- 
 covered something to be wrong with me, and told me to go home. 
 I started with the intention of going to the house ; but, in attempt- 
 ing to cross the fence out of the field where we were, my strength 
 entirely failed me, and I fell helpless on the ground, and for a time 
 was quite unconscious of anything. 
 
 The first thing that I can recollect was a voice speaking to me, 
 calling me by name. I looked up and beheld the same messenger 
 standing over my head, surrounded by light as before. He then 
 again related unto me all that he had related the previous night, 
 and commanded me to go to my father and tell him of the vision 
 and commandments which I had received. 
 
 I obeyed; I returned to my father in the field, and rehearsed 
 the whole matter to him. He replied to me that it was of God, and 
 he told me to go and do as commanded by the messenger. I left 
 the field, and went to the place where the messenger had told me 
 the plates were deposited; and owing to the distinctness of the 
 vision which I had concerning it, I knew the place the instant that 
 I arrived there. 
 
 MORONI'S INSTRUCTIONS 
 
 Upon arriving at the repository, a little exertion in removing 
 the soil from the edges of the top of the box, and a light pry, brought 
 to his natural vision its contents. While viewing and contemplating 
 this sacred treasure with wonder and astonishment, behold! the 
 Angel of the Lord, who had previously visited him, again stood in 
 his presence, and his soul w r as again enlightened as it was the 
 evening before, and he was filled with the Holy Spirit, and the 
 heavens were opened, and the glory of the Lord shone round about 
 and rested upon him. While he thus stood gazing and admiring, 
 the Angel said, "Look !" And as he thus spake, he beheld the Prince 
 of Darkness, surrounded by his innumerable train of associates. 
 All this passed before him, and the heavenly messenger said, "All 
 this is shown, the good and the evil, the holy and impure, the glory 
 of God, and the power of darkness, that you may know hereafter 
 the two powers, and never be influenced or overcome by that wicked 
 one. Behold, whatsoever enticeth and leadeth to good and to do 
 good, is of God, and whatsoever doth not, is of that wicked one. It 
 is he that filleth the hearts of men with evil, to walk in darkness 
 and blaspheme God ; and you may learn from henceforth, that his 
 ways are to destruction, but the way of holiness is peace and rest. 
 You cannot at this time obtain this record, for the commandment 
 of God is strict, and if ever these sacred things are obtained, they 
 must be by prayer and faithfulness in obeying the Lord. They are 
 not deposited here for the sake of accumulating gain and wealth 
 for the glory of this world ; they were sealed by the prayer of faith, 
 and because of the knowledge which they contain, they are of no 
 worth among the children of men, only for their knowledge. On 
 them is contained the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ, as it 
 was given to his people on this land ; and when it shall be brought 
 
8 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 forth by the power of God, it shall be carried to the Gentiles, of 
 whom many will receive it, and after will the seed of Israel be 
 brought into the fold of their Redeemer by obeying it also. Those 
 who kept the commandments of the Lord on this land, desired this 
 at his hand, and through the prayer of faith obtained the promise, 
 that if their descendants should transgress and fall away, that a 
 record should be kept, and in the last days come to their children. 
 These things are sacred, and must be kept so, for the promise of 
 the Lord concerning them must be fulfilled. No man can obtain 
 them if his heart is impure, because they contain that which is 
 sacred." * * * "By them will the Lord work a great and marvelous 
 work; the wisdom of the wise shall become as naught, and the 
 understanding of the prudent shall be hid, and because the power 
 of God shall be displayed, those who profess to know the truth, but 
 walk in deceit, shall tremble with anger; but with signs and with 
 wonders, with gifts and with healings, with the manifestations of 
 the power of God, and with the Holy Ghost, shall the hearts of the 
 faithful be comforted. You have now beheld the power of God 
 manifested, and the power of Satan ; you see that there is nothing 
 desirable in the works of darkness; that they cannot bring hap- 
 piness ; that those who are overcome therewith are miserable ; while, 
 on the other hand, the righteous are blessed with a place in the 
 kingdom of God, where joy unspeakable surrounds them. There 
 they rest beyond the power of the enemies of truth, where no evil 
 can disturb them. The glory of God crowns them, and they con- 
 tinually feast upon his goodness, and enjoy his smiles. Behold, 
 notwithstanding you have seen this great display of power, by 
 which you may ever be able to detect the evil one, yet I give unto 
 you another sign, and when it comes to pass then know that the 
 Lord is God, and that he will fulfill his purposes, and that the 
 knowledge which this record contains will go to every nation, and 
 kindred, and tongue, and people under the whole heaven. This is 
 the sign: When these things begin to be known, that is, when it 
 is known that the Lord has shown you these things, the workers 
 of iniquity will seek your overthrow. They will circulate falsehoods 
 to destroy your reputation; and also will seek to take your life; 
 but remember this, if you are faithful, and shall hereafter con- 
 tinue to keep the commandments of the Lord, you shall be pre- 
 served to bring these things forth; for in due time he will give 
 you a commandment to come and take them. When they are 
 interpreted, the Lord will give the holy priesthood to some, and 
 they shall begin to proclaim this gospel and baptize by water, and 
 after that, they shall have power to give the Holy Ghost by the 
 laying on of their hands. Then will persecution rage more and 
 more; for the iniquities of men shall be revealed, and those who 
 are not built upon the Rock will seek to overthrow the church ; but 
 it will increase the more opposed, and spread farther and farther, 
 increasing in knowledge till they shall be sanctified, and receive 
 an inheritance where the glory of God will rest upon them; and 
 when this takes place, and all things are prepared, the ten tribes 
 of Israel will be revealed in the north country, whither they have 
 been for a long season; and when this is fulfilled will be brought 
 
THE PROPHET JOSEPH SPEAKS FOR HIMSELF 9 
 
 to pass that saying of the prophet : 'And the Redeemer shall come 
 to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, 
 saith the Lord.' But, notwithstanding the workers of iniquity shall 
 seek your destruction, the arm of the Lord will be extended, and 
 you will be borne off conqueror if you keep all his commandments. 
 Your name shall be known among the nations, for the work which 
 the Lord will perform by your hands shall cause the righteous to 
 rejoice and the wicked to rage ; with the one it shall be had in honor, 
 and with the other in reproach ; yet, with these it shall be a terror, 
 because of the great and marvelous work which shall follow the 
 coming forth of the fulness of the gospel. Now, go thy way, re- 
 membering what the Lord has done for thee, and be diligent in 
 keeping his commandments, and he will deliver thee from tempta- 
 tions and all the arts and devices of the wicked one. Forget not 
 to pray, that thy mind may become strong, that when he shall 
 manifest unto thee, thou mayest have power to escape the evil, 
 and obtain these precious things. " 
 
 Remarkable Visions — 1840 By Orson Pratt. 
 
 Continuing the narration of this interview before given, Lucy 
 Mack Smith, mother of the Prophet Joseph, relates : 
 
 "Furthermore, the angel told him, at the interview mentioned 
 last, that the time had not yet come for the plates to be brought 
 forth to the world; that he could not take them from the place 
 wherein they were deposited until he had learned to keep the 
 commandments of God — not only till he was willing but able to 
 do it. The angel bade Joseph come to this place every year, at the 
 same time of the year, and he would meet him there and give him 
 further instructions. 
 
 "The ensuing evening, when the family ivere all together, 
 Joseph made known to them all that he had communicated to his 
 father in the field, and also of his finding the record, as well as what 
 passed between him and the angel while he ivas at the place where 
 the plates were deposited. Sitting up late that evening, in order 
 to converse upon these things, together, with over-exertion of mind, 
 had much fatigued Joseph; and when Alvin observed it, he said: 
 'Now, brother, let us go to bed, and rise early in the morning, in 
 order to finish our day's work at an hour before sunset, then, if 
 mother will get our suppers early, we will have a fine long evening, 
 and we will all sit down for the purpose of listening to you while 
 you tell us the great things which God has revealed to you.' 
 
 "Accordingly , by sunset the next day, ive were all seated, and 
 Joseph commenced telling us the great and glorious things ivhich 
 God had manifested to him; but, before proceeding, he charged 
 us not to mention out of the family that which he was about to say 
 to us, as the world ivas so wicked that when they came to a knowl- 
 edge of these things they would try to take our lives; and that 
 when we should obtain the plates, our names would be cast out as 
 evil by all people. Hence the necessity of suppressing these things 
 as much as possible, until the time should come for them to go 
 forth to the world. 
 
 "After giving us this charge, he proceeded to relate further 
 
10 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 particulars concerning the work which he was appointed to do, 
 and we received them joyfully, never mentioning them except 
 among ourselves, agreeable to the instructions which we had re- 
 ceived from him. From this time forth, Joseph continued to receive 
 instructions from the Lord, and we continued to get the children 
 together every evening for the purpose of listening while he gave 
 us a relation of the same. I presume our family presented an 
 aspect as singular as any that ever lived upon the face of the earth 
 — all seated in a circle, father, mother, sons and daughters, and 
 giving the most profound attention to a boy, eighteen years of age, 
 who had never read the Bible through in his life; he seemed much 
 less inclined to the perusal of books than any of the rest of our 
 children, but far more given to meditation and deep study. 
 
 "We were now confirmed in the opinion that God was about to 
 bring to light something upon which we could stay our minds, or 
 that would give us a more perfect knowledge of the plan of salva- 
 tion and the redemption ol the human family. This caused us 
 greatly to rejoice, the sweetest union and happiness pervaded our 
 house, and tranquility reigned in our midst. 
 
 "During our evening conversations, Joseph would occasionally 
 give us some of the most amusing recitals that could be imagined. 
 He would describe the ancient inhabitants of this continent, their 
 dress, mode of traveling, and the animals upon which they rode; 
 their cities, their buildings, with every particular; their mode of 
 warfare; and also their religious worship. This he would do with 
 as much ease, seemingly, as if he had spent his whole life among 
 them." History of Joseph Smith, by Lucy Mack Smith, pp. 81-83. 
 
 MANY ANGELS VISITED JOSEPH 
 
 I was also informed concerning the aboriginal inhabitants of 
 this country, and shown who they were, and from whence they 
 came, a brief, sketch of their origin, progress, civilization, laws, 
 governments, of their righteousness and iniquity, and the blessing 
 of God being finally withdrawn from them as a people was made 
 known unto me. I was also told where there was deposited some 
 plates on which were engraven an abridgment of the records of 
 the ancient prophets that had existed on this continent. The angel 
 appeared to me three times the same night and unfolded the same 
 things. After having received many visits from the angels of God 
 unfolding the majesty, and glory of the events that should transpire 
 in the last days, on the morning of the 22nd of September, A. D. 
 1827, the angel of the Lord delivered the records into my hands. 
 
 Excerpts from the Wentworth Letter — Times and Seasons, 3:706-710. 
 
 THE PROPHET JOSEPH REPLIES TO A 
 MODERN POLITICIAN— JAMES ARLINGTON BENNETT 
 
 "But, sir, when I leave the dignity and honor I received from 
 heaven to hoist a man into power, through the aid of my friends, 
 where the evil and designing, after the object has been accom- 
 plished can look up the clemency, intended as a reciprocation for 
 
THE PROPHET JOSEPH SPEAKS FOR HIMSELF 11 
 
 such favors, and where the wicked and unprincipled, as a matter 
 of course, would seize the opportunity to flintify the hearts of the 
 nation against me for dabbling at a sly game in politics ; verily, I 
 say, when I leave the dignity and honor of heaven to gratify the 
 ambition and vanity of man or men, may my power cease, like 
 the strength of Samson, when he was shorn of his locks, while 
 asleep in the lap of Delilah ! Truly said the Savior, 'Cast not your 
 pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and 
 turn again and rend you/ 
 
 "Shall I, who have witnessed the visions of eternity, and 
 beheld the glories of the mansions of bliss, and the regions and 
 the misery of the damned, shall I turn to be a Judas ? Shall I, who 
 have heard the voice of God, and communed with angels, and spake, 
 as moved by the Holy Ghost, for the renewal of the everlasting 
 covenant, and for the gathering of Israel in the last days, shall I 
 worm myself into a political hypocrite? Shall I, who hold the 
 keys of the last kingdom, in which is the dispensation of the ful- 
 ness of all things spoken by the mouths of all the holy prophets, 
 since the world began, under the sealing power of the Melchisedec 
 Priesthood — shall I stoop from the sublime authority of Almighty 
 God to be handled as a monkey's catspaw, and pettify myself into 
 a clown to act the farce of political demagoguery ? No, verily no ! 
 The whole earth shall bear me witness that I, like the towering rock 
 in the midst of the ocean, which has withstood the mighty surges 
 of the warring waves for centuries, am impregnable, and am a 
 faithful friend to virtue, and a fearless foe to vice ; no odds, whether 
 the former was sold as a pearl in Asia, or hid as a gem in America, 
 and the latter dazzles in palaces, or glimmers among the tombs. 
 
 "I combat the errors of ages ; I meet the violence of mobs ; I 
 cope with illegal proceedings from executive authority; I cut the 
 Gordian knot of powers; and I solve mathematical problems of 
 universities with truth — diamond truth; and God is my 'right- 
 hand man.' " 
 
 Life of Joseph the Prophet, by Geo. Q. Cannon, p. 432. 
 
CHAPTER 2 
 
 The Greatness of the Prophet Joseph 
 
 By Eliza R. Snow: On my return to Kirtland, by solicitation, 
 I took up my residence in the family of the prophet and taught his 
 family school. Again I had ample opportunity of judging of his 
 daily walk and conversation, and the more I made his acquaintance, 
 the more cause I found to appreciate him in his divine calling. His 
 lips ever flowed with instructions and kindness ; but, although very 
 forgiving, indulgent and affectionate in his nature, when his god- 
 like intuition suggested that the good of his brethren, or the in- 
 terests of the kingdom of God demanded it, no fear of censure, no 
 love of approbation, could prevent his severe and cutting rebukes. 
 His expansive mind grasped the great plan of salvation, and solved 
 the mystic problem of man's destiny; he ivas in possession of keys 
 that unlocked the past and the future, with its successions of 
 eternities; yet in his devotions he ivas as humble as a little child. 
 Three times a day he had family io or ship; and these precious sea- 
 sons of sacred household service truly seemed a foretaste of celestial 
 happiness. Women of Mormondom, By E. W. Tullidge, pp. 65-66. 
 
 By Orson Pratt : I had the great privilege when I was in from 
 my missions, of boarding most of the time at his house, so that I 
 not only knew him as a public teacher, but as a private citizen, as 
 a husband and father. I witnessed his earnest and humble devotions 
 both morning and evening in his family. / heard the tvords of 
 eternal life flowing from his mouth, nourishing, soothing and com- 
 forting his family, neighbors and friends. I saiv his countenance 
 lighted up as the inspiration of the Holy Ghost rested upon him, 
 dictating the great and most precious revelations now printed for 
 our guidance. I saiv him translating, by inspiration, the Old and 
 New Testaments, and the inspired Book of Abraham from Egyptian 
 papyrus. j. d. 7:176. 
 
 By John Taylor: No wonder that Joseph Smith should say 
 that he felt himself shut up in a nutshell — there was no power of 
 expansion; it teas difficult for him to reveal and communicate the 
 things of God, because there ivas no place to receive them. What 
 he had to communicate ivas so much more comprehensive, en- 
 lightened and dignified than that which the people generally knew 
 and comprehended, it was difficult for him to speak; he felt fettered 
 and bound, so to speak, in every move he made. j. d. 10:148. 
 
 The principles had placed him in communication tvith the Lord, 
 and not only ivith the Lord, but with the ancient apostles and 
 prophets; such men, for instance, as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Noah, 
 Adam, Seth, Enoch, and Jesus and the Father, and the apostles that 
 lived on this continent as well as those who lived on the Asiatic 
 continent. He seemed to be as familiar with these people as we are 
 with one another. j. D. 21:94. 
 
THE GREATNESS OF THE PROPHET JOSEPH SMITH 13 
 
 By Brigham Young: Those who were acquainted with him 
 knew when the Spirit of revelation was upon him, for his counte- 
 nance wore an expression peculiar to himself while under that 
 influence. He preached by the Spirit of revelation, and taught in 
 his council by it, and those who were acquainted with him could 
 discover it at once, for at such times there was a peculiar clearness 
 and transparency in his face. j. d. 9:89. 
 
 Joseph Smith holds the keys of this last dispensation, and is 
 now engaged behind the veil in the great work of the last days. I 
 can tell our beloved brother Christians who have slain the Prophets 
 and butchered and otherwise caused the death of thousands of 
 Latter-day Saints, the priests who have thanked God in their 
 prayers and thanksgiving from the pulpit that we have been 
 plundered, driven, and slain, and the deacons under the pulpit, and 
 their brethren and sisters in their closets, who have thanked God, 
 thinking that the Latter-day Saints were wasted away, something 
 that no doubt will mortify them — something that, to say the least, 
 is a matter of deep regret to them — namely, that no man or woman 
 in this dispensation will ever enter into the Celestial Kingdom of 
 God, without the consent of Joseph Smith. From the day that the 
 Priesthood was taken from the earth to the winding-up scene of 
 all things, every man and woman must have the certificate of 
 Joseph Smith, junior, as a passport to their entrance into the man- 
 sion where God and Christ are — I with you and you with me. I can- 
 not go there without his consent. He holds the keys of that king- 
 dom for the last dispensation — the keys to rule in the spirit world ; 
 and he rules there triumphantly, for he gained full power and a 
 glorious victory over the power of Satan while he was yet in the 
 flesh, and was a martyr to his religion and to the name of Christ, 
 which gives him a most perfect victory in the spirit world. He 
 reigns there as supreme a being in his sphere, capacity, and calling, 
 as God does in heaven. Many will exclaim, "Oh, that is very dis- 
 agreeable ! It is preposterous ! We cannot bear the thought !" But 
 it is true. /. d. 7:289. 
 
 By John Reid. Lawyer : The first acquaintance I had with Gen. 
 Smith was about the year 1823. He came into my neighborhood, be- 
 ing then about eighteen years of age, and resided there two years ; 
 during which time I became intimately acquainted with him. I do 
 know that his character was irreproachable ; that he was well known 
 for truth and uprightness ; that he moved in the first circles of the 
 community, and he was often spoken of as a young man of intelli- 
 gence and good morals, and possessing a mind susceptible of the 
 highest intellectual attainments. I early discovered that his mind 
 was constantly in search of truth, expressing an anxious desire to 
 know the will of God concerning His children here below, often speak- 
 ing of those things which professed Christians believe in. I have 
 often observed to my best informed friends, (those that were free 
 from superstition and bigotry) that I thought Joseph was predes- 
 tinated by his God from all eternity to be an instrument in the hands 
 of the great Dispenser of all good, to do a great work ; what it was 
 I knew not. D.H.C. 1:93. 
 
14 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 By Parley P. Pratt : Yes, that extraordinary man, whose inno- 
 cent blood is yet dripping, as it were, from the hands of assassins 
 and their accessories, in the United States, was the chosen vessel 
 honored of God, and ordained by angels, to ordain other Apostles 
 and Elders, to restore the Church and the Kingdom of God, the 
 gifts of the Holy Spirit, and to be a messenger in the spirit, and 
 power of Elijah to prepare the way of the Lord! "For, behold, he 
 will suddenly come to his temple!" 
 
 Like John, who filled a similar mission preparatory to the first 
 advent of the Son of God, he baptized with water unto repentance, 
 for the remission of sins; like him, he was imprisoned; and, like 
 him, his life was taken from the earth; and, finally, like all other 
 true messengers, his message is being demonstrated by its pro- 
 gressive fulfillment — the powers, gifts, and signs following the 
 administration of his message in all the world, and every minute 
 particular of his predictions fulfilling in the order of events, as the 
 wheels of time bring them due. 
 
 But in one important point his message differs from all former 
 messages. The science of Theology revived by him will never de- 
 cline, nor its keys be taken from the earth. They are committed 
 to man for the last time. Their consummation will restore the 
 tribes of Israel, and Judah, overthrow all corrupt institutions, 
 usher in the reign of universal peace and knowledge, introduce tc 
 earth her lawful and eternal king, the crucified Nazarene, the 
 resurrected Messiah, banish darkness and death, sorrow, mourn- 
 ing and tears, from the face of our globe, and crown our race with 
 the laurels of victory and eternal life. 
 
 Ages yet unborn will rise up and call him blessed. A thousand 
 generations of countless myriads will laud his name and recount 
 his deeds, while unnumbered nations bask in the light and enjoy 
 the benefits of the institution founded by his instrumentality. 
 
 His kindred, the nation that gave him birth, and exulted at 
 his death, nay, his very murderers and their posterity, will yet 
 come bending unto him and seek his forgiveness and the benefits 
 of his labors. 
 
 But Oh! the pain! the dark despair! the torments of a guilty 
 conscience! the blackness of darkness in the lower hell, which the 
 guilty wretches will experience before that happy day of deliver- 
 ance! Oh! the countless myriads of the offspring of innocent and 
 honorable men who will walk the earth, tread on the ashes, or 
 plough and reap over the bones and dust of those miserable mur- 
 derers and their accomplices who have consented to the shedding 
 of innocent blood, ere the final trump shall sound, which calls up 
 their sleeping dust from its long slumbers in the tomb, and their 
 spirits from the prison of the damned! 
 
 And even when this, to them almost interminable, period has 
 rolled away, and they rise from the dead, instead of a welcome 
 exaltation to the presence and society of the sons of God, an eter- 
 nal banishment awaits them. They never can come where God and 
 Christ dwell, but will be servants in the dominions of the Saints, 
 their former victims. 
 
 The Key To Theology, pp. 80-82, 1938 edition. 
 
THE GREATNESS OF THE PROPHET JOSEPH SMITH 15 
 
 By Parley P. Pratt : In Philadelphia I had the happiness of once 
 more meeting with President Smith, and of spending several days 
 with him and others, and ivith the saints in that city and vicinity. 
 During these interviews he taught me many great and glorious 
 principles concerning God and the heavenly order of eternity. It 
 tvas at this time that I received from him the first idea of eternal 
 family organization and in the eternal union of the sexes in those 
 inexpressibly endearing relationships ivhich none but the highly 
 intellectual, the refined and pure in heart, know how to prize, and 
 which are at the very foundation of everything worthy to be called 
 happiness. Till then I had learned to esteem kindred affections 
 and sympathies as appertaining solely to this transitory state, as 
 something from which the heart must be entirely weaned, in order 
 to be fitted for its heavenly state. It ivas Joseph Smith who taught 
 me how to prize the endearing relationships of father and mother, 
 husband and ivife; of brother and sister, son and daughter. It was 
 from him that I learned that the ivife of my bosom might be secured 
 to me for time and all eternity; and that the refined sympathies and 
 affections which endeared us to each other emanated from the 
 fountain of divine eternal love. It tvas from him that I learned that 
 we might cultivate these affections, and grow and increase in the 
 same to all eternity; while the result of our endless union would be 
 an offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven, or the sands of the 
 sea shore. It tvas from him that I learned the true dignity and 
 destiny of a son of God, clothed with eternal priesthood, as the 
 patriarch and sovereign of his countless offspring. It was from 
 him that I learned that the highest dignity of womanhood was to 
 stand as a queen and princess to her husband, and to reign for ever 
 and ever as the queen mother of her numerous and still increasing 
 offspring. * * * Yet, at that time, my dearly beloved brother, Joseph 
 Smith, had barely touched a single key; had merely lifted a corner 
 of the veil and given me a single glance into eternity. 
 
 Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt, pp. 329-330. 
 
 By David Whitmer : Before I knew Joseph, I had learned about 
 him and the plates from persons who declared they knew he had 
 them, and swore they would get them from him. When Oliver 
 Cowdery went to Pennsylvania he promised to write me what he 
 should learn about these matters, which he did. He wrote me that 
 Joseph had told him his (Oliver's) secret thoughts, and all he had 
 meditated about going to see him, which no man on earth knew, 
 as he supposed, but himself, and so he stopped to write for Joseph. 
 . . . When I arrived at Harmony, Joseph and Oliver were coming 
 toward me, and met me some distance from the house. Oliver told 
 me that Joseph had informed him when I started from home, where 
 I had stopped the first night and how I read the sign at the tavern, 
 where I stopped the next night, etc., and that I would be there 
 that day before dinner, and this was why they had come out to 
 meet me; all of which was exactly as Joseph had told Oliver, at 
 which I was greatly astonished. 
 
 Elders' Journal, Vol. 4, No. 16, May 15, 1907. 
 By Parley P. Pratt : I bear this testimony this day, that Joseph 
 
16 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 Smith was and is a Prophet, Seer and Revelator — -an Apostle hold- 
 ing the keys of this last dispensation and of the kingdom of God, 
 under Peter, James and John. And not only that he was a Prophet 
 and Apostle of Jesus Christ, and lived and died one, but that he 
 now lives in the spirit world, and holds those same keys to usward 
 and to this whole generation. Also that he will hold those keys to 
 all eternity ; and no power in heaven or on the earth will ever take 
 them from him; for he will continue holding those keys through 
 all eternity, and will stand — yes, again in the flesh upon this earth, 
 the head of the Latter-day Saints under Jesus Christ, and under 
 Peter, James and John. He will hold the keys to judge the genera- 
 tion to whom he was sent, and will judge my brethren that preside 
 over me; and will judge me, together with the Apostles ordained 
 by the word of the Lord through him and under his administration. 
 When this is done, those Apostles will judge this generation 
 and the Latter-day Saints; and they will judge them with that 
 judgment which Jesus Christ ivill give unto them; and they will 
 have the same spirit and the same mind as Jesus Christ, and their 
 judgment will be His judgment, for they ivill be one. 
 
 J. D. 5:195-6. 
 
 By Wilford Woodruff: I have seen men in the days of Joseph 
 bring up principles, and read and teach, and advocate theories, 
 when the Prophet would say : "It is not right to do so ; they are not 
 true." Those men would still argue, maintain their position, and 
 they would write in defence of their theories when the Prophet 
 condemned them, and they would say: "We have no faith in your 
 theory, nor in the system you present." The very moment a man 
 does that he crosses the path of the servant of God who is set to 
 lead the way to life and salvation. This is one thing that the Elders 
 should carefully avoid. The fact is, there are a great many things 
 taught in the building up of this kingdom which seem strange to 
 us, being contrary to our traditions, and are calculated to try men. 
 Brother Joseph used a great many methods of testing the integrity 
 of men; and he taught a great many things which, in consequence 
 of tradition, required prayer, faith, and a testimony from the Lord, 
 before they could be believed by many of the Saints. His mind was 
 opened by the visions of the Almighty, and the Lord taught him 
 many things by vision and revelation that were never taught 
 publicly in his days; for the people could not bear the flood of 
 intelligence which God poured into his mind. J. D. 5:83. 
 
 By Heber C. Kimball: Nearly twenty years ago, I was in a place 
 in England in which I felt very curious ; but I did not know at the 
 time what it meant. I went through a town called Chadburn, beyond 
 Clithero. Before I went there, some persons told me that there was 
 no use in my going, and asked me what I wanted to go to Chadburn 
 for, saying it was the worst place in the country ; for the sectarian 
 priests had preached there faithfully thirty years without making 
 any impression. Notwithstanding that, I went, and preached once 
 and baptized twenty-five persons, where the priests had not been 
 able to do a thing. 
 
 I went through the streets of that town feeling as I never be- 
 
THE GREATNESS OF THE PROPHET JOSEPH SMITH 17 
 
 fore felt in my life. My hair would rise on my head as I walked 
 through the streets, and I did not then know what was the matter 
 with me. I pulled off my hat, and felt that I wanted to pull off my 
 shoes, and I did not know what to think of it. When I returned, I 
 mentioned the circumstances to brother Joseph, who said: "Did 
 you not understand it? That is the place where some of the old 
 Prophets traveled and dedicated that land, and their blessing fell 
 upon you." J. D. 5:22. 
 
 Blessing given to Joseph the Prophet by his father: A mar- 
 velous work and a wonder has the Lord wrought by thy hand, even 
 that which shall prepare the way for the remnants of his people 
 to come in among the Gentiles, with their fulness, as the tribes of 
 Israel are restored. I bless thee with the blessings of thy fathers 
 Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; and even the blessings of thy father 
 Joseph, the son of Jacob. Behold, he looked after his posterity in 
 the last days, when they should be scattered and driven by the 
 Gentiles, and wept before the Lord; he sought diligently to know 
 from whence the Son should come who should bring forth the word 
 of the Lord, by which they might be enlightened, and brought back 
 to the true fold, and his eyes beheld thee, my son; his heart re- 
 joiced and his soul was satisfied and he said: As my blessings are 
 to extend to the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills; as my 
 father's blessings prevailed over the blessings of his progenitors, 
 and as my branches are to run over the wall, and my seed are to 
 inherit the choice land whereon the Zion of God shall stand in the 
 last days, from among my seed, scattered with the Gentiles, shall 
 a choice Seer arise, whose bowels shall be a fountain of truth, whose 
 loins shall be girded with the girdle of righteousness, whose hands 
 shall be lifted with acceptance before the God of Jacob to turn away 
 his anger from his anointed, whose heart shall meditate great wis- 
 dom, whose intelligence shall circumscribe and comprehend the 
 deep things of God, and whose mouth shall utter the law of the 
 just and he shall feed upon the heritage of Jacob his father. Thou 
 (Joseph Smith, Jr.) shall hold the keys of this ministry, even the 
 presidency of this Church, both in time and in eternity, and thou 
 shall stand on Mount Zion when the tribes of Jacob come shouting 
 from the north, and with thy brethren, the Sons of Ephraim, 
 crown them in the name of Jesus Christ. 
 
 Genealogy Lessons for 1948. 
 
 THE PERSONALITY AND CHARACTER OF THE 
 PROPHET JOSEPH SMITH 
 
 President Joseph Smith was in person tall and well built, 
 strong and active ; of a light complexion, light hair, blue eyes, 
 very little beard, and of an expression peculiar to himself, on 
 which the eye naturally rested with interest, and was never weary 
 of beholding. His countenance was ever mild, affable, beaming with 
 intelligence and benevolence; mingled with a look of interest and 
 an unconcious smile, or cheerfulness, and entirely free from all 
 restraint or affectation of gravity; and there was something con- 
 nected with the serene and steady penetrating glance of his eye, 
 
18 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 as if he would penetrate the deepest abyss of the human heart, 
 gaze into eternity, penetrate the heavens, and comprehend all 
 worlds. 
 
 He possessed a noble boldness and independence of character ; 
 his manner was easy and familiar ; his rebuke terrible as the lion ; 
 his benevolence unbounded as the ocean; his intelligence universal, 
 and his language abounding in original eloquence peculiar to him- 
 self, not polished, not studied, not smoothed and softened by edu- 
 cation and refined by art ; but flowing forth in its own native sim- 
 plicity, and profusely abounding in variety of subject and manner. 
 He interested and edified, while, at the same time, he amused and 
 entertained his audience; and none listened to him that were ever 
 weary with his discourse. I have even known him to retain a con- 
 gregation of willing and anxious listeners for many hours to- 
 gether, in the midst of cold or sunshine, rain or wind, while they 
 were laughing at one moment and weeping the next. Even his most 
 bitter enemies were generally overcome, if he could once get their 
 ears. 
 
 I have known him when chained and surrounded with armed 
 murderers and assassins who were heaping upon him every possible 
 insult and abuse, rise up in the majesty of a son of God and rebuke 
 them, in the name of Jesus Christ, till they quailed before him, 
 dropped their weapons, and, on their knees, begged his pardon, 
 and ceased their abuse. 
 
 In short, in him the characters of a Daniel and a Cyrus were 
 wonderfully blended. The gifts, wisdom and devotion of a Daniel 
 were united with the boldness, courage, temperance, perseverance 
 and generosity of a Cyrus. And had he been spared a martyr's fate 
 till mature manhood and age, he was certainly endued with powers 
 and ability to have revolutionized the world in many respects, and 
 to have transmitted to posterity a name associated with more bril- 
 liant and glorious acts than has yet fallen to the lot of mortal. 
 As it is, his works will live to endless ages, and unnumbered mil- 
 lions yet unborn will mention his name with honor, as a noble in- 
 strument in the hands of God, who, during his short and youthful 
 career, laid the foundation of that kingdom spoken of by Daniel, 
 the prophet, which should break in pieces all other kingdoms and 
 stand forever. Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt, pp. 47-48. 
 
 L. 0. LITTLEFIELD MEETS JOSEPH THE PROPHET 
 
 I had read some in the scriptures and heard men often talk 
 about the prophets and apostles of the days of the Savior and had 
 formed an idea, of course, that they must have been remarkable 
 and good men, and the thought that I was to look upon a prophet 
 of God in my day — that I was, indeed, in the flesh, to behold a 
 person who stood in that near and familiar relationship to God, 
 that His will was made manifest to him — was something that 
 awakened reflections that my young mind could not well fathom 
 or reconcile. But the opportunity came, and I first beheld him a 
 tall, well-proportioned man, busily mingling with the members of 
 Zion's Camp, shaking hands with them, meeting them with friendly 
 greetings and carefully seeing to their comforts. His familiar, yet 
 
THE GREATNESS OF THE PROPHET JOSEPH SMITH 19 
 
 courteous and dignified manner, his pleasant and intelligent coun- 
 tenance, his intellectual and well-formed forehead, the expressive 
 and philanthrophic facial lineaments, the pleasant smile and the 
 happy light that beamed from his mild blue eyes; all these were 
 among the attractive attributes that at once awakened a responsive 
 interest in the mind of every kindly beholder, which increased in 
 intensity as the acquaintance continued. With his most familiar 
 friends he was social, conversational and often indulged in harm- 
 less jokes ; but when discoursing upon complicated topics that per- 
 tained to the welfare of individuals or the progressiveness of com- 
 munities, his elucidations were clear and so full of common sense 
 and genuine philosophy that the candid and fair-minded felt inter- 
 ested by his views, though they might decline to entertain or 
 promulgate all of the self-evident truths he originated. 
 
 Juvenile Instructor, Vol. 27:56. 
 
 HOSPITALITY OF THE PROPHET JOSEPH 
 
 I often wonder, when I hear brethren and sisters complain at 
 the trifling inconveniences which they have to suffer in these 
 days, and I think to myself that salvation is worth as much now 
 as it was in the commencement of the work. But "all like the pur- 
 chase, few the price would pay." How often I have parted every 
 bed in the home for the accommodation of the brethren, and then 
 laid a single blanket on the floor for my husband and myself, while 
 Joseph (the Prophet-N.B.L.) and Emma slept upon the same floor, 
 with nothing but their cloaks for both bed and bedding. 
 
 Life of Joseph Smith the Prophet, by Lucy Smith, pp. 203-4. 
 
 NONE COULD COMPREHEND THE PROPHET JOSEPH 
 
 By George Q. Cannon 
 
 There are many, perhaps all of us, that have more or less of 
 a desire to conform to the ideas which prevail in the world. These 
 ideas we have inherited, and they come natural to us; and not 
 having progressed sufficiently to overcome them, we naturally 
 lean toward them. We do this in politics, in finance, in trading, in 
 almost everything. It seems to be right to us, because all of our 
 inherited tendencies are in that direction. If we could have a 
 glimpse of heaven, and understand things as they are, we might 
 be able to do better; but this is not God's way of doing things. 
 He wants us to work out our own development, and to exert the 
 powers we have inherited from Him in conquering the wrong ten- 
 dencies we have inherited from our fathers. He gives us line upon 
 line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little; but He 
 does not reveal it all at once. At the same time He would like us 
 to comprehend more than we do. I have sometimes thought that 
 the Prophet Joseph, with the knowledge he possessed and the prog- 
 ress he had made could not stay with the people, so slow were we 
 to comprehend things and so enshrouded in our ignorant traditions. 
 The Saints could not comprehend Joseph Smith; the Elders could 
 not; the Apostles could not. They did so a little towards the close 
 
20 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 of his life; but his knowledge was so extensive and his compre- 
 hension so great that they could not rise to it. It was so with 
 President Young; and I may say it is so with the leaders of the 
 Church now. It is a continual labor on their part to lift the people 
 up to the comprehension of the will of God and His purposes con- 
 nected with this work. The people are bound down by their tra- 
 ditions, and because of this it is rarely that you can get even the 
 Elders to see the propriety of certain things. 
 
 Millennial Star, 61:629. 
 
 THE PROPHET JOSEPH'S BROTHER, WILLIAM, TESTIFIES 
 
 Before William Smith, brother of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, died 
 he was visited by J. W. Peterson. That gentleman has written an 
 account of the interview with father Smith, to Zion's Ensign, a paper 
 published at Independence, Missouri. It is written from Bradtville, 
 Wisconsin, and is as follows: Brother Briggs and I visited him next 
 day after he returned from St. Paul, it being about two weeks before 
 his death. We found him able to be about the house and quite willing 
 to talk. After passing the time of day, Brother Briggs and he spoke of 
 former meetings and finally drifted on to the subject of Brother 
 Smith's early boyhood and his knowledge of the rise of the Church, 
 Book of Mormon, etc. 
 
 Brother Briggs then handed me a pencil and asked Brother 
 Smith if he ever saw the plates his brother had had, from which 
 the Book of Mormon was translated. 
 
 He replied : "I did not see them uncovered, but I handled them 
 and hefted them while wrapped in a tow frock and judged them 
 to have weighed about sixty pounds. I could tell they were plates 
 of some kind and that they were fastened together by rings run- 
 ning thru the back. Their size was as described in mother's his- 
 tory." 
 
 Brother Briggs then asked : "Did any others of the family see 
 them?" 
 
 "Yes," said he, "father and my brother Samuel saw them as 
 I did while in the frock. So did Hyrum and others of the family." 
 
 "Was this frock one that Joseph took with him especially to 
 wrap the plates in?" 
 
 "No, it was his every-day frock such as young men used to 
 wear then." 
 
 "Didn't you want to remove the cloth and see the bare plates?" 
 said Brother Briggs. 
 
 "No," he replied, "for father had just asked if he might not 
 be permitted to do so, and Joseph, putting his hand on them said : 
 'No, I am instructed not to show them to any one. If I do, I will 
 transgress and lose them again.' Besides we did not care to have 
 him break the commandment and suffer as he did before." 
 
 "Did you not doubt Joseph's testimony sometimes?" said 
 Brother Briggs. 
 
 "No," was the reply. "We all had the most implicit confidence 
 in what he said. He was a truthful boy. Father and mother be- 
 lieved him, why should not the children? I suppose if he had told 
 crooked stories about other things we might have doubted his 
 word about the plates, but Joseph was a truthful boy. That father 
 
THE GREATNESS OF THE PROPHET JOSEPH SMITH 21 
 
 and mother believed his report and suffered persecution for that 
 belief shows that he was truthful. No sir, we never doubted his 
 word for one minute." 
 
 "Well," said Brother Briggs, "it is said that Joseph and the 
 rest of the family were lazy and indolent." 
 
 "We never heard of such a thing until after Joseph told his 
 vision, and not then, by our friends. Whenever the neighbors want- 
 ed a good day's work done they knew where they could get a good 
 hand and they were not particular to take any of the other boys 
 before Joseph either. We cleared sixty acres of the heaviest timber 
 I ever saw. We had a good place. We also had on it from twelve to 
 fifteen hundred sugar-trees, and to gather the sap and make sugar 
 and molasses from that number of trees was no lazy job. We 
 worked hard to clear our place and the neighbors were a little 
 jealous. If you will figure up how much work it would take to clear 
 sixty acres of heavy timber land, heavier than any here, trees you 
 could not conveniently cut down, you can tell whether we were 
 lazy or not, and Joseph did his share of the work with the rest of 
 the boys." 
 
 "We never knew we were bad folks until Joseph told his vision. 
 We were considered respectable till then, but at once people began 
 to circulate falsehoods and stories in a wonderful way." 
 
 "Were your folks religiously inclined before Joseph saw the 
 angel?" asked Brother Briggs. 
 
 "Yes, we always had family prayers since I can remember. 
 I well remember father used to carry his spectacles in his vest 
 pocket, (feeling in his lower right hand pocket to show us how 
 and where) and when us boys saw him feel for his specs, we knew 
 that was a signal to get ready for prayer, and if we did not notice 
 it mother would say, 'William,' or whoever was the negligent one, 
 'get ready for prayer.' After the prayer we had a song we would 
 sing. I remember part of it yet: 
 
 Another day has passed and gone, 
 We lay our garments by. 
 
 "Hyrum, Samuel, Catharine and mother were members of the 
 Presbyterian church. My father would not join. He did not like it 
 because a Rev. Stockton had preached my brother's funeral ser- 
 mon and intimated very strongly that he had gone to hell, for 
 Alvin was not a church member, but he was a good boy, and my 
 father did not like it." 
 
 "What caused Joseph to ask for guidance as to what church 
 he ought to join," asked Brother Briggs. 
 
 "Why, there was a joint revival in the neighborhood between 
 the Baptists, Methodists and Presbyterians and they had succeeded 
 in stirring up quite a feeling, and after the meeting the question 
 arose which church should have the converts. Rev. Stockton was the 
 president of the meeting and suggested that it was their meeting and 
 under their care and they had a church there and they ought to join 
 the Presbyterians, but as father did not like Rev. Stockton very well, 
 our folks hesitated and the next evening a Rev. Mr. Lane of the 
 Methodists preached a sermon on : 'What church shall I join?' And 
 
22 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 the burden of his discourse was to ask God, using as a text: 'If 
 any man lack wisdom let him ask of God who giveth to all men 
 liberally/ And of course when Joseph went home and was looking 
 over the text he was impressed to do just what the preacher had 
 said, and going out into the woods with child-like simple trusting 
 faith, believing that God meant just what He said, he kneeled 
 down and prayed ; and the time having come for the reorganization 
 of His church, God was pleased to show him that he should join 
 none of these churches, but if faithful he should be chosen to estab- 
 lish the true Church." Millennial Star, 56:132-134. 
 
 THE GREATNESS OF THE PROPHET JOSEPH 
 
 By Dr. John A. Widtsoe 
 
 Since I struggled as a boy to find the Church and the message 
 of Joseph Smith, I have been overwhelmed by the greatness of the 
 Prophet. He towers above all men by his great teachings. Of course, 
 he was a man with the frailties of the flesh, but he so lived that 
 God spoke to men through him. Indeed, he is the biggest man in 
 the history of the world since the Savior lived among men nearly 
 two thousand years ago. He was a magnificent type of man. The 
 Prophet stands unique among the religious leaders of the world, 
 for in practically all of his work in the restoration he had wit- 
 nesses. Mohammed, Buddha, Confucius, as examples, each estab- 
 lished his work without witnesses, but not so Joseph Smith. There 
 were witnesses to the Gold Plates and the Book of Mormon, in the 
 visitation of heavenly personages, and in the receiving of many of 
 the revelations. His work was inaugurated not by himself alone, 
 but by and with witnesses. His teachings clear up so many mis- 
 conceptions, that any man who honestly investigates the Prophet 
 and his work, must come to a conviction that he was indeed a 
 Prophet. Church Section, Deseret News, January 30, 1952. 
 
 JOSIAH QUINCY'S OPINION OF THE PROPHET JOSEPH 
 
 "It is by no means improbable that some future' text book, for 
 the use of generations yet unborn, will contain a question something 
 like this : What historical American of the nineteenth century has 
 exerted the most powerful influence upon the destinies of his coun- 
 trymen? And it is by no means impossible that the answer to that 
 interrogatory may be thus written: JOSEPH SMITH, THE MOR- 
 MON PROPHET. And the reply, absurd as it doubtless seems to 
 most men now living, may be an obvious commonplace to their de- 
 scendants. History deals in surprises and paradoxes quite as star- 
 tling as this. The man who established a religion in this age of free 
 debate, who was and is today accepted by hundreds of thousands as 
 a direct emissary from the Most High — such a rare human being is 
 not to be disposed of by pelting his memory with unsavory epithets. 
 * * * The most vital questions Americans are asking each other 
 today have to do with this man and what he has left us.* * * * Burn- 
 ing questions they are, which must give a prominent place in the 
 history of the country to that sturdy self-asserter whom I visited 
 at Nauvoo. Joseph Smith, claiming to be an inspired teacher, faced 
 
THE GREATNESS OF THE PROPHET JOSEPH SMITH 23 
 
 adversity such as few men have been called to meet, enjoyed a brief 
 season of prosperity such as few men have ever attained, and, 
 finally, forty-three days after I saiv him, went cheerfully to a 
 martyr's death. When he surrendered his person to Governor Ford, 
 in order to prevent the shedding of blood, the Prophet had a pre- 
 sentiment of what was before him. 7 am going like a lamb to the 
 slaughter,' he is reported to have said, 'But I am as calm as a sum- 
 mer's morning. I have a conscience void of offence and shall die 
 innocent.' " Figures of the Past, May 15, 1844. 
 
 ADMONITION TO THE YOUNG 
 
 Oh, that the children who read this Biography would take 
 his life for an example, imitate his faith, his humility, his love 
 for God and man, his devotion to the truth, his fearlessness in 
 clinging to and upholding the right, his firmness and his perfect 
 obedience in doing the will of God! If they will do so, their lives 
 will be great and useful in the sight of God and man, and their 
 eternal reward will be sure. If they will do so, how ample will be 
 our reward for the time we have spent in writing the incidents of 
 this great and noble life! 
 
 When we recollect that Joseph was only thirty-eight years of 
 age at the time he was killed, the work which he was the instrument 
 in the hands of God in accomplishing seems truly wonderful. Alone, 
 with no one to help him but the Lord, he had started out with the 
 determination to obey the commands which he received from 
 heaven. He had not learning, he had not wealth, powerful friends 
 he had none; but he had what were of greater value to him than 
 all these — he had the truth and the authority from God to pro- 
 claim it. And the Lord whom he served made him mighty in word 
 and in deed. He performed a marvellous work, and in the face of 
 obstacles, too, that would have frightened the most of men, and 
 which he himself could never have overcome had the Lord not given 
 him help. 
 
 Life of Joseph the Prophet by George Q. Cannon, Instructor, Vol. 15. 
 
 THE NOBILITY OF THE GREATEST SEER 
 OF ALL TIME 
 
 As a son, he was nobility itself, in love and honor of his par- 
 ents; as a brother he was loving and true, even unto death; as a 
 husband and father, his devotion to wives and children stopped 
 only at idolatry. His life's greatest motto after "God and His 
 Kingdom" was that of "wives, children and friends." 
 
 Joseph the Prophet, as a friend was faithful, long suffering, 
 noble and true to that degree that the erring who did love him were 
 reminded that the rod of a friend was better than the kiss of an 
 enemy, "while others who sopped in his dish" but bore not re- 
 proof, became his enemies, and like Law, Marks, Foster, Higbee 
 and others who hated him, conspired to his death. 
 
 As companion, socially, he was highly endowed; was kind, 
 generous, mirth loving, and at times, even convivial. He was 
 partial to a well supplied table and he did not always refuse the 
 wine that "maketh the heart glad." For amusements, he would 
 
24 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 sometimes wrestle with a friend, or ofttimes would test strength 
 with others by sitting upon the floor with feet together and a stick 
 grasped between them, but he never found his match. Jokes, re- 
 buses, matching couplets in rhymes, etc., were not uncommon. 
 But to call for the singing of one or more of his favorite songs was 
 more frequent. Of those, "Wives, Children and Friends," "Battle 
 of River Russen," "Soldier's Tear," "Soldier's Dream," and "Last 
 Rose of Summer," were most common. And yet, although so social 
 and even convivial at times, he would allow no arrogance or undue 
 liberties, and criticisms, even by his associates, were rarely ac- 
 ceptable, and contradictions would rouse in him the lion at once, 
 for by no one of his fellows would he be superseded. And while 
 with him in such fraternal, social and sometimes convivial moods, 
 we could not then so fully realize the greatness and majesty of 
 his calling, which, since his martyrdom, has continued to mag- 
 nify in our view, as the glories of this last dispensation were more 
 fully unfolded to our comprehension. 
 
 One small incident, among the many, I will relate to show 
 his playful, familiar, kind and loving nature toward one who to 
 him was as a protege or a younger brother. Soon after the Prophet 
 escaped from Missouri and arrived at Old Commerce, the future 
 Nauvoo, in 1839, I was with him. The people had flocked in from 
 the terrible exposures of the past, and nearly every one was sick 
 with intermittent or other fevers, of which many died. In this 
 time of great sickness, poverty and death, the Prophet called his 
 brother, Don Carlos, and cousin, G. A. Smith, as missionaries to 
 administer to and to comfort the people. And there being there 
 two young Botanic medical students, Doctors Wiley and Pendle- 
 ton, he called upon them to prescribe medicine, and called on me 
 to follow and take general oversight and care of all the sick, which 
 for weekis, I did, without even one night of respiteful sleep. The 
 forepart of September, Dr. Wiley became sick unto death, which 
 soon occurred, after which the Prophet, too, had a violent attack 
 of the prevailing sickness. As Emma was in no degree able to 
 care for him, it wholly devolved upon me, and both day and night, 
 through a period of little less than two weeks, I was hardly ab- 
 sent from his room; as almost his only food was gruel, and about 
 the only treatment he would accept was a flush of the colon with 
 warm water, perhaps tinctured slightly with capsicum or myrrh, 
 or a little soda and salt, both of which were prepared and admin- 
 istered by me in the room he occupied; and if any sleep came to 
 me it was while lying upon his bed or sitting in my chair. At the 
 termination of this sickness and fasting, he arose from his bed 
 like a lion, or as a giant refreshed with wine. He went to Presi- 
 dent Rigdon with great reproof, commanding him and his house 
 to repent; and called for a skiff across the river, and finding Elijah 
 Fordham in death's struggle, he commanded him to arise, which 
 he did at once, and was made whole, as were others by his admin- 
 istrations. 
 
 Soon after the Prophet's recovery, I too, came apparently 
 nigh unto death through a violent attack of the fever, through 
 which my comfort was kindly looked after by the Prophet. 
 
THE GREATNESS OF THE PROPHET JOSEPH SMITH 25 
 
 About the middle of October a letter came to say that my 
 dear mother and young sister were apparently near to death, in 
 Springfield, Illinois, and were anxious for my return. In my anx- 
 iety to again see my mother, I procured quinine, which was just 
 becoming known as an antidote for fever, and taking it in large 
 quantities, my fever soon abated, and under it's tonic influence 
 I fancied I had become well, and in great joy and hope hastened 
 preparations to start for the home of my mother and kindred in 
 Springfield. My horse was in the yard ready to mount, but I 
 wished to take leave of the Prophet, with the hope of again re- 
 ceiving his blessings. Of the whole sum I had obtained with which 
 to pay for outfit and passage to England, with the Twelve, when 
 they could start, to which I had been called by the June Confer- 
 ence at Quincy, I had but one ten dollar bill left, and I thought on 
 it at least I would pay a tithing; so going to the Prophet I told 
 him I was ready to leave, and reaching to him the bill, I said, "As 
 this is all I have left, I want to pay a tithe of it." He saw I was 
 weak in body and that my heart was sad in leaving him, so think- 
 ing to cheer and arouse me, when putting the nine silver dollars 
 in my hand he playfully knocked my hand upward, scattering the 
 money all over the room. My heart was full of tears, and my emo- 
 tions must have vent, so forgetting all about the feeling that 
 we were boy companions playing together, I sprang at and 
 grappled him so as to teach him a lesson. But the lesson was all 
 to me, for on making the one grand effort to throw him, I found 
 myself in strength no more than a bullrush as compared with him, 
 and as my strength was fictitious and my real recovery but an il- 
 lusion, I collapsed and fainted in his arms. He placed me in re- 
 pose, gathered up the scattered money, and after a period of 
 delay, weak, trembling and desolute, yet determined to start, I 
 led my horse to the outer gate, and as I was passing through, with 
 the bridle on my arm, his hand detained me, and placing his hands 
 upon my head, he seemed to pour out his soul in blessing me. He 
 told the Lord I had been faithful to care for others, but I was 
 now worn and sick, and that on my journey I would need His care, 
 and he asked that a special guardian might go with me from that 
 day and stay with me through all my life. And 0! my dear 
 brother, how often have I seen through life the footprints of that 
 angel, and knew that his hand had drawn me back from death. 
 
 And then you would have "further truths from the teachings 
 of the Prophet." Where shall I commence, and how shall I write 
 to your understanding, even the little I may have retained in my 
 memory? You will not forget that the march of science through 
 the last seventy years has in many things reversed the world's 
 thought, changed its "modus" and almost its face, and in fact 
 exploded the dogmas of outside theology. Well, the keys to all 
 this knowledge were first committed to the Prophet Joseph, as a 
 part of the gospel, for the world's benefit, for all of which he was 
 derided. He was the first to teach in this age, "substantialism," 
 the eternity of matter, that no part or particle of the great uni- 
 verse could become annihilated or destroyed; that light and life 
 and spirit were one; that all light and heat are the "Glory of 
 
26 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 God," which is His power, that fills the "immensity of space," and 
 is the life of all things, and permeates with latent life, and heat, 
 every particle of which all works are composed ; that light or spirit, 
 and matter, are the two first great primary principles of the uni- 
 verse, or of Being; that they are self -existent, co-existent, inde- 
 structible, and eternal, and from these two elements both our spirits 
 and our bodies were formulated, and he gave us to understand 
 that there were twelve Kingdoms, or planets, revolving around 
 our solar system, to which the Lord gave an equal division of His 
 time or ministry; and that now was His time to again visit the 
 earth. He taught that all systems of worlds were in revolution, 
 the lesser around the greater. He taught that all the animal king- 
 doms would be resurrected, and made us understand that they 
 would remain in the dominion of those who, with creative power, 
 reach out for dominion through the power of eternal lives. He 
 taught us that the saints would fill the great West, and through 
 Mexico, and Central and South America we would do a great work 
 for the redemption of the remnant of Jacob. And he taught us 
 relating to the Kingdom of God, as it would become organized, 
 upon the earth through "all nations learning war no more," and 
 all adopting the God-given constitution of the United States as a 
 Paladium of Liberty and Equal Rights. 
 
 But this, of itself, would require a long chapter, which must 
 wait until the fulfillment of a prediction by the Prophet, relating 
 to a testimony that I should bear, after I had become hoary with 
 age, of things which he that day taught to the circle of friends 
 then around him, of whom I am the only one living. So here I will 
 leave this subject for your further interrogations, and proceed 
 to give you, so far as I can, the Prophet's last charge to the 
 Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. 
 
 It was in Nauvoo early in 1844 in an assembly room, com- 
 mon to the meeting of a council, or a select circle of the Prophet's 
 most trusted friends, including the Twelve, but not all of the con- 
 stituted authorities of the Church, for Presidents Rigdon, Law 
 or Marks, the High Council, or presidents of quorums were not 
 members of that council, which at times would exceed fifty in 
 number. Its sittings were always strictly private, and all its rules 
 were carefully and promptly observed and though its meetings 
 were at times oftener than monthly, and my home at Ramus over 
 twenty miles distant, I was present at every session, and being 
 about the youngest member of that council, I was deeply im- 
 pressed with all that transpired, or was taught by the Prophet. 
 
 Criticism had already commenced by those near him in au- 
 thority with regard to his teachings and his doings. And we 
 began now, in a degree, to understand the meaning of what he 
 had so often publicly said, that, should he teach and practice the 
 principles that the Lord had revealed to him, and now requested 
 of him, that those then nearest him in the stand would become 
 his enemies and the first to seek his life; which they soon did, just 
 as he had foretold. And to show you that under conditions then 
 existing that the Prophet did not really desire longer to live, and 
 that you may see how my mind was in a degree prepared for after 
 
THE GREATNESS OF THE PROPHET JOSEPH SMITH 27 
 
 results, I will briefly relate an incident that occurred at his last 
 visit to us at Ramus. 
 
 After he had that evening preached with great animation to 
 a large congregation, and had blessed nineteen children, he turned 
 to me and said, "Benjamin, I am tired, let us go home," which only 
 a block distant, we soon reached, and entering we found a warm 
 fire with a large chair in front, and my wife sitting near with her 
 babe, our eldest, upon her lap, and approaching her, I said, "Now, 
 Melissa, see what we have lost by your not going to meeting. 
 Brother Joseph has blessed all the children in the place but ours, 
 and it is left out in the cold." But the Prophet at once said, "You 
 shall lose nothing," and he proceeded to bless our first born, and 
 then, with a deep drawn breath, as a sigh of weariness, he sank 
 down heavily in his chair, and said, "0, I do get so tired and 
 weary, that at times I almost yearn for my rest," and then pro- 
 ceeded to briefly recount to us some of the most stirring events 
 of his life's labors, sufferings and sacrifices, and then he said, "I 
 am getting tired and would like to go to my rest." 
 
 And now returning to the council and the last charge. Let 
 us remember that by revelation he had organized the Holy Priest- 
 hood, and that by command of the Lord (D. & C. 124 and 125) had 
 taken from the First Presidency his brother Hyrum to hold as 
 Patriarch, the sealing power, the first and highest honor due to 
 priesthood; that he had returned the keys of endowments, to the 
 last anointing, and sealing, together with the keys for the salva- 
 tion for the dead, with the eternity of the marriage covenant and 
 the power of endless lives. All these keys he held, and under these 
 then existing conditions he stood before that association of his 
 select friends, including all of the Twelve, and with great feel- 
 ing and animation he graphically reviewed his life of persecution, 
 labor and sacrifice for the church and the kingdom of God, both 
 of which he declared were now organized upon the earth, the 
 burden of which had become too great for him longer to carry, 
 that he was weary and tired with the weight he had so long borne, 
 and he then said, with great vehemence: "And in the name of 
 the Lord, I now shake from my shoulders the responsibility of 
 bearing off the Kingdom of God to all the world, and here and 
 now I place that responsibility, with all the keys, powers and 
 privileges pertaining thereto, upon the shoulders of you the 
 Twelve Apostles, in connection with this council ; and if you will 
 accept this, to do it, God shall bless you mightily and shall open 
 your way; and if you do it not you will be damned. I am hence- 
 forth free from this responsibility and I now shake my garments 
 clear and free from the blood of this generation and of all men" ; 
 shaking his shirt with great vehemence he raised himself from the 
 floor, while the spirit that accompanied his words thrilled every 
 heart as with a feeling that boded bereavement and sorrow. 
 
 And now, my dear brother, after 60 years have passed, at 85 
 year's in age, I bear to you and to all the world a solemn testi- 
 mony of the truth and veracity of what I have written above, for 
 although so many years have intervened, they are still in my 
 mind, as fresh as when they occurred; no doubt as a part fulfill- 
 
28 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 raent of a prediction by the Prophet relating to "testimonies I 
 should bear of his teachings, after I had become hoary with age." 
 
 There were, my dear brother, other teachings to that coun- 
 cil, of which I am not at full liberty to write, but if I had your 
 ear, I would remember that the Prophet once said to me : "Benja- 
 min, in regard to those things I have taught you privately, that 
 are not yet for the public, I give you right when you are so led, 
 to commit them to others, for you will not be led wrong in dis- 
 cerning those worthy of your confidence." 
 
 Of Brigham Young as President of the Church, I will again 
 bear this as a faithful testimony that I do know and bear record 
 that upon the head of Brigham Young as chief, with the Apostle- 
 ship in full, was by the voice of the Prophet Joseph, in my hearing, 
 laid the full responsibility of bearing off the kingdom of God to all 
 the world. And I do further bear this as a testimony, faithful and 
 true, to the Church and to all the world, that at a conference of the 
 whole Church, at Nauvoo, subsequent to the Prophet's death and 
 before the return of the absent Apostles, that I sat in the assembly 
 near President Rigdon, closely attentive to his appeal to the con- 
 ference to recognize and sustain his claim as "Guardian for the 
 Church." And was, perhaps, to a degree, forgetful of what I knew 
 to be the rights and duties of the apostleship, and as he closed his 
 address and sat down, my back was partly turned to the seats 
 occupied by Apostle Brigham Young and other Apostles, when 
 suddenly, and as from Heaven, I heard the voice of the Prophet 
 Joseph, that thrilled my whole being, and quickly turning around 
 I saw in the transfiguration of Brigham Young, the tall, straight 
 and portly form the Prophet Joseph Smith, clothed in a sheen 
 of light, covering him to his feet ; and I heard the real and perfect 
 voice of the Prophet, even to the whistle, as in years past caused 
 by the loss of a tooth said to have been broken out by the mob at 
 Hiram. This view, or vision, although but for seconds, was to me 
 as vivid and real as the glare of lightning or the voice of thunder 
 from the heavens, and so deeply was I impressed with what I saw 
 and heard in the transfiguration, that for years I dared not tell 
 what was given me of the Lord to see. But when in later years I 
 did publicly bear this testimony, I found that others had testified 
 to having seen and heard the same. But to what proportion of the 
 congregation that were present, I could never know. But I do know 
 that this, my testimony, is true. 
 
 The Prophet's lost tooth, to which I allude, was, as generally 
 understood, broken out by the mob at Hiram while trying to pry 
 open his mouth to strangle him with acid, from which time, until 
 the tooth was replaced by a dentist neighbor, a year or two previous 
 to his death, there had been a whistle-like sound to accompany all 
 his public speaking which I again plainly heard at the time of which 
 I write. Excerpt from letter of Benjamin F. Johnson to George S. Gibbs. 
 
 THE SEER 
 
 The Seer — the Seer — Joseph the Seer — 
 I'll sing of the Prophet ever dear, 
 
THE GREATNESS OF THE PROPHET JOSEPH SMITH 29 
 
 His equal now cannot be found, — 
 By searching the wide world around. 
 
 With Gods he soared in the realms of day ; 
 And men he taught the heavenly way. 
 'Mid the foaming billows of angry strife — 
 He stood at the helm of the ship of life. 
 The earthly Seer ; the heavenly Seer, 
 I love to dwell on his mem'ry dear ; — 
 The chosen of God, and the friend of men, 
 He brought the priesthood back again, 
 He gazed on the past, on the present too ; — 
 And ope'd the heavenly world to view. 
 
 Of noble seed — of heavenly birth, 
 
 He came to bless the sons of earth ; 
 
 With keys by the Almighty given, 
 
 He opened the full rich stores of heaven, 
 
 O'er the world that was wrapt in sable night 
 
 Like the sun he spread his golden light. 
 
 He strove, — 0, how he strove to stay, 
 
 The stream of crime in its reckless way — 
 
 He urged the wayward to reclaim ; 
 
 With a mighty mind, and a noble aim. 
 
 The saints ; — the saints ; his only pride, 
 For them he lived, for them he died ! 
 Their joys were his ; — their sorrows too ; — 
 He lov'd the saints ; — he lov'd Nauvoo. 
 Unchanged in death, with a Savior's love 
 He pleads their cause, in the courts above. 
 The Seer ; — the Seer — Joseph the Seer ! 
 0, how I love his memory dear, 
 The just and wise, the pure and free, 
 A father he was, and is to me. 
 Let fiends now rage in their dark hour ; 
 No matter, he is beyond their power. 
 
 He's free ; — he's free ; — the Prophet's free ! 
 
 He is where he will ever be. 
 
 Beyond the reach of mobs and strife, 
 
 He rests unharm'd in endless life. 
 
 His home's in the sky ; — he dwells with the Gods 
 
 Far from the furious rage of mobs. 
 
 He died ; he died — for those he lov'd 
 
 He reigns ; — he reigns in the realms above, 
 
 He waits with the just who have gone before, 
 To welcome the saints to Zion's shore ; 
 Shout, shout ye saints — this boon is given, 
 We'll meet our martyr'd Seer in heaven. 
 
 Hymn composed by John Taylor for the dedication of the Seventies Hall, 
 at Nauvoo, Illinois, on Thursday, Dec. 26, 1844. 
 
CHAPTER 3 
 
 Persecutions Endured by the Prophet 
 and the Saints 
 
 (The following Memorial will only partly reveal the trials and 
 persecutions the Prophet Joseph Smith and the Saints had to endure. 
 The full history of these persecutions will never be known by mortals, 
 neither can they be described by the pen of man.) 
 
 AMERICAN EXILES' MEMORIAL TO CONGRESS 
 
 To the Honorable Senators and Representatives of the 
 United States of America, in Congress Assembled. 
 
 We, the undersigned members of the city council of the city of 
 Nauvoo, citizens of Hancock County, Illinois, and exiles from the 
 State of Missouri, being in council assembled, unanimously and re- 
 spectfully, for ourselves and in behalf of many thousands of other 
 exiles, memorialize the honorable Senators and Representatives of 
 our nation upon the subject of the unparalleled persecution and 
 cruelties inflicted upon us and upon our constituents, by the consti- 
 tuted authorities of the State of Missouri, and likewise upon the 
 subject of the present unfortunate circumstances in which we are 
 placed in the land of our exile. As a history of the Missouri outrages 
 has been extensively published, both in this country and in Europe, 
 it is deemed unnecessary to particularize all of the wrongs and 
 grievances inflicted upon us in this memorial ; as there is an abun- 
 dance of well-attested documents to which your honorable body can 
 at any time refer ; hence we only embody the following important 
 items for your consideration : 
 
 First. Your memorialists, as free-born citizens of this great 
 Republic, relying with the utmost confidence upon the sacred 
 "Articles of the Constitution" by which the several States are bound 
 together, and considering ourselves entitled to all the privileges 
 and immunities of free citizens in what State soever w r e desired to 
 locate ourselves, commenced a settlement in the county of Jack- 
 son, on the western frontiers of the State of Missouri in the sum- 
 mer of 1831. There we purchased lands from the government; 
 erected several hundred houses, made extensive improvements, and 
 shortly the wild and lonely prairies and stately forests were con- 
 verted into well cultivated and fruitful fields. There we expected 
 to spend our days in the enjoyment of all the rights and liberties 
 bequeathed to us by the sufferings and blood of our noble ancestors. 
 But alas! our expectations were vain. Two years had scarcely 
 elapsed before we were unlawfully and unconstitutionally assailed 
 by an organized mob, consisting of the highest officers in the county, 
 both civil and military, who boldly and openly avowed their de- 
 termination, in a written circular, to drive us from said county. 
 
PERSECUTIONS ENDURED BY PROPHET AND SAINTS 31 
 
 As a specimen of their treasonable and cruel designs, your honor- 
 able body are referred to said circular, of which the following is 
 but a short extract, namely: "We, the undersigned citizens of 
 Jackson county, believing that an important crisis is at hand as 
 regards our civil society, in consequence of a pretended religious 
 sect of people that have settled and are still settling in our county, 
 styling themselves Mormons, and intending, as we do, to rid our 
 society, 'peaceably' if we can — 'forcibly', if we must; and believing, 
 as we do, that the arm of the civil law does not afford us a guaran- 
 tee, or at least a sufficient one, against the evils which are now 
 inflicted upon us and seem to be increasing by the said religious 
 sect, deem it expedient and of the highest importance to form our- 
 selves into a company for the better and easier accomplishment 
 of our purpose." This document was closed in the following words : 
 "We therefore agree after timely warning and receiving adequate 
 compensation for what little property they cannot take with them, 
 they refuse to leave us in peace as they found us, we agree to use 
 such means as may be sufficient to remove them, and to that end 
 we each pledge to each other our bodily power, our lives, fortunes, 
 and sacred honors." 
 
 To this unconstitutional document were attached the names of 
 nearly every officer in the county, together with the names of 
 hundreds of others. It was by this band of murderers that your 
 memorialists, in the year 1833, were plundered of their property, 
 and robbed of their peaceable homes. It was by them their fields 
 were laid waste, their houses burned, and their men, women, and 
 children, to the number of about twelve hundred persons, banished 
 as exiles from the county, while others were cruelly murdered by 
 their hands. 
 
 Second. After our expulsion from Jackson county we settled 
 in Clay county, on the opposite side of the Missouri river, where 
 we purchased lands both from the old settlers and from the land 
 office; but soon we were again violently threatened by mobs, and 
 obliged to leave our homes and seek out a new location. 
 
 Third. Our next settlement was in Caldwell county, where we 
 purchased the most of the lands in said county, besides a part of the 
 lands in Daviess and Carroll counties. These counties were almost 
 entirely in a wild and uncultivated state, but by the persevering 
 industry of our citizens, large and extensive farms were opened in 
 every direction, well stocked with numerous flocks and herds. We 
 also commenced settlements in several other counties of the State, 
 and once more confidently hoped to enjoy the hard earned fruits 
 of our labor unmolested ; but our hopes were soon blasted. The cruel 
 and murderous spirit which first began to manifest itself in the 
 constituted authorities and inhabitants of Jackson county, and 
 afterwards in Clay and the surrounding counties, receiving no 
 check either from the civil or military power of the State, had in 
 the meantime, taken courage, and boldly and fearlessly spread its 
 contaminating and treasonable influence into every department of 
 the government of said State. Lieutenant Governor Boggs, a resi- 
 dent of Jackson county, who acted a conspicuous part in our ex- 
 
32 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 pulsion from said county, instead of being tried for treason and 
 rebellion against the constitution, and suffering the just penalty 
 of his crimes, was actually elected Governor and placed in the ex- 
 ecutive chair. Thus the inhabitants of the State were greatly en- 
 couraged to renew and with redoubled fury their unlawful attack 
 upon our defenseless settlements. Men, women, and children were 
 driven in every direction before their merciless persecutors. Robbed 
 of their possessions, their property, their provisions, and their all ; 
 cast forth upon the bleak snowy prairies, houseless and unprotected, 
 many sank down and expired under their accumulated sufferings, 
 while others, after enduring hunger and the severities of the sea- 
 son, suffering all but death, arrived in Caldwell county, to which 
 place they were driven from all the surrounding counties only to 
 witness a still more heart-rending scene. In vain had we appealed 
 to the constituted authorities of Missouri for protection and re- 
 dress of our former grievances ; in vain we now stretched out our 
 hands, and appealed, as the citizens of this great Republic, to the 
 sympathies — to the justice and magnanimity of those in power; in 
 vain we implored, again and again, at the feet of Governor Boggs, 
 our former persecutor, aid and protection against the ravages and 
 murders now inflicted upon our defenseless and unoffending citi- 
 zens. The cry of American citizens, already twice driven and de- 
 prived of liberty, could not penetrate their adamantine hearts. The 
 Governor, instead of sending us aid, issued a proclamation for our 
 EXTERMINATION AND BANISHMENT; ordered out the forces 
 of the State, placed them under the command of General Clarke, 
 who to execute these exterminating orders, marched several thou- 
 sand troops into our settlements in Caldwell county, where, un- 
 restrained by fear of law or justice, and urged on by the highest 
 authority of the State, they laid waste our fields of corn, shot down 
 our cattle and hogs for sport, burned our dwellings, inhumanly 
 butchered some eighteen or twenty defenseless citizens, dragged 
 from their hiding places little children, and placed the muzzles of 
 their guns to their heads, shot them with the most horrid oaths 
 and imprecations. An aged hero and patriot of the revolution, who 
 served under General Washington, while in the act of pleading 
 for quarter, was cruelly murdered and hewed in pieces with an 
 old corn-cutter ; and in addition to all these savage acts of barbarity, 
 they forcibly dragged virtuous and inoffensive females from their 
 dwellings, bound them upon benches used for public worship, where 
 they, in great numbers ravished them in a most brutal manner. 
 Some fifty or sixty of the citizens were thrust into prisons and 
 dungeons, where, bound in chains, they were fed on human flesh, 
 while their families and some fifteen thousand others, were, at the 
 point of the bayonet, forcibly expelled from the State. In the mean- 
 time, to pay the expenses of these horrid outrages, they confiscated 
 our property and robbed us of all our possessions. Before our final 
 expulsion, with a faint and lingering hope, we petitioned the State 
 Legislature, then in session; unwilling to believe that American 
 citizens could appeal in vain for a restoration of liberty, cruelly 
 wrested from them by cruel tyrants. But in the language of our 
 noble ancestors "our repeated petitions were only answered by 
 
PERSECUTIONS ENDURED BY PROPHET AND SAINTS 33 
 
 repeated injuries." The Legislature, instead of hearing the cries of 
 15,000 suffering, bleeding, unoffending citizens, sanctioned and 
 sealed the unconstitutional acts of the Governor and his troops, by 
 appropriating 200,000 dollars to defray the expenses of exterminat- 
 ing us from the State. 
 
 No friendly arm was stretched out to protect us. The last ray 
 of hope for redress in that State was now entirely extinguished. 
 We saw no other alternative but to bow down our necks, and wear 
 the cruel yoke of oppression, and quietly and submissively suffer 
 ourselves to be banished as exiles from our possessions, our prop- 
 erty, our sacred homes; or otherwise see our wives and children 
 coldly murdered and butchered by tyrants in power. 
 
 Fourth. Our next permanent settlement was in the land of 
 our exile, the State of Illinois, in the spring of 1839. But even here 
 we are not secure from our relentless persecutor, the State of Mis- 
 souri. Not satisfied in having drenched her soil in the blood of 
 innocence, and expelling us from her borders, she pursues her un- 
 fortunate victims into banishment, seizing upon and kidnapping 
 them in their defenseless moments, dragging them across the 
 Mississippi river upon their inhospitable shores, where they are 
 tortured, whipped, immured in dungeons, and hung by the neck 
 without any legal process whatever. We have memorialized the 
 former executive of this state, Governor Carlin, upon these lawless 
 outrages committed upon our citizens, but he rendered us no pro- 
 tection. Missouri, receiving no check in her murderous career, 
 continues her depredations, again and again kidnapping our citi- 
 zens, and robbing us of our property ; w T hile others who fortunately 
 survived the execution of her bloody edicts, are again and again 
 demanded by the executive of that state, on pretense of some crime, 
 said to have been committed by them during the exterminating 
 expedition against our people. As an instance, General Joseph 
 Smith, one of your memorialists, has been three times demanded, 
 tried, and acquitted by the courts of this state, upon investigation 
 under writs of habeas corpus, once by the United States court for 
 the district of Illinois, again by the Circuit Court of the State of 
 Illinois, and lastly, by the municipal court of the City of Nauvoo, 
 when at the same time a nulle prosequi had been entered by the 
 courts of Missouri, upon all cases of that state against Joseph 
 Smith and others. Thus the said Joseph Smith has been several 
 times tried for the same alleged offense, put in jeopardy of life and 
 limb, contrary to the fifth article of the amendments to the Con- 
 stitution of these United States ; and thus we have been continually 
 harassed and robbed of our money to defray the expense of those 
 vexatious prosecutions. And what at the present time seems to 
 be still more alarming, is the hostility manifested by some of the 
 authorities and citizens of this State. Conventions have been 
 called; inflammatory speeches made; and many unlawful and un- 
 constitutional resolutions adopted, to deprive us of our rights, our 
 liberties, and the peaceable enjoyment of our possessions. From 
 the present hostile aspect, and from bitter experience in the State 
 of Missouri, it is greatly feared that the barbarous scenes acted in 
 
34 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 that state will be reacted in this. If Missouri goes unpunished, 
 others will be greatly encouraged to follow her murderous examples. 
 The afflictions of your memorialists have already been overwhelm- 
 ing, too much for humanity, too much for American citizens to 
 endure without complaint. We have groaned under the iron hand 
 of tyranny and oppression these many years. We have been robbed 
 of our property to the amount of two millions of dollars. We have 
 been hunted as the wild beasts of the forest. We have seen our aged 
 fathers who fought in the Revolution, and our innocent children, 
 alike slaughtered by our persecutors. We have seen the fair daugh- 
 ters of American citizens insulted and abused in the most inhuman 
 manner, and finally we have seen fifteen thousand souls, men, 
 women, and children, driven by force of arms, during the severities 
 of winter, from their sacred homes and firesides, to a land of 
 strangers, penniless and unprotected. Under all these afflicting 
 circumstances, we imploringly stretch forth our hands towards the 
 highest councils of our nation, and humbly appeal to the illustrious 
 Senators and Representatives of a great and free people for re- 
 dress and protection. 
 
 Hear, hear the petitioning voice of many thousands of 
 American citizens who now groan in exile on Columbia's free soil. 
 Hear, hear the weeping and bitter lamentations of widows and 
 orphans, whose husbands and fathers have been cruelly martyred in 
 the land where the proud eagle exultingly floats. Let it not be 
 recorded in the archives of the nations, that Columbia's exiles 
 sought protection and redress at your hands, but sought it in vain. 
 It is your power to save us, our wives, and our children, from a 
 repetition of the blood-thirsty scenes of Missouri, and thus greatly 
 relieve the fears of a persecuted and injured people, and your pe- 
 titioners will ever pray. 
 
 The names of the members of the city council, as petitioners, are 
 omitted for want of space. The foregoing memorial was presented 
 to congress in the spring of 1844, making the third time that those 
 horrid scenes of murder have been laid before them since the begin- 
 ning of our exile, but all to no purpose. Our petitions are unheeded 
 or treated with contempt. And thousands of American citizens must 
 linger out a life of wretched exile, deprived of the use of their own 
 lands, and of the sacred rights of American Liberty. 
 
 Millennial Star, Vol. 11 :260-275. 
 
 APPEAL FOR AID AGAINST MOBS AND PERSECUTION 
 
 (Letter to the President of the United States and 
 the Governors of the Respective States.) 
 
 Nauvoo, Illinois, April 24, 1845. 
 
 His Excellency James K. Polk, 
 President of the United States 
 
 Hon. Sir: 
 
 Suffer us, Sir, in behalf of a disfranchised and long afflicted 
 people to prefer a few suggestions for your serious consideration 
 
 
PERSECUTIONS ENDURED BY PROPHET AND SAINTS 35 
 
 in hope of a friendly and unequivocal response, at as early a period 
 as may suit your convenience, and the extreme urgency of the case 
 seem to demand. 
 
 It is not our present design to detail the multiplied and aggra- 
 vated wrongs that we have received in the midst of a nation that 
 gave us birth. Most of us have long been loyal citizens of some one 
 of these United States over which you have the honor to preside, 
 while a few only claim the privileges of peaceable and lawful emi- 
 grants designing to make the Union our permanent residence. 
 
 We say we are a disfranchised people. We are privately told 
 by the highest authorities of this state that it is neither prudent 
 nor safe for us to vote at the polls, still we have continued to main- 
 tain our right to vote, until the blood of our best men has been shed, 
 both in Missouri and Illinois, with impunity. 
 
 You are doubtless somewhat familiar with the history of our 
 extermination from the state of Missouri, wherein scores of our 
 brethren were massacred, hundreds died through want and sick- 
 ness occasioned by their unparalleled sufferings ; some millions of 
 our property were confiscated or destroyed, and some fifteen thou- 
 sand souls fled for their lives to the then hospitable and peaceful 
 shores of Illinois; and that the state of Illinois granted to us a 
 liberal charter (for the term of perpetual succession) under whose 
 provision private rights have become invested, and the largest city 
 in the state has grown up, numbering about twenty thousand in- 
 habitants. 
 
 But Sir, the startling attitude recently assumed by the State 
 of Illinois forbids us to think that her designs are any less vin- 
 dictive than those of Missouri. She has already used the military 
 of the state with the executive at their head to coerce and surren- 
 der up our best men to unparalleled murder, and that too under 
 the most sacred pledges of protection and safety. As a salvo for 
 such unearthly perfidy and guilt she told us through her highest 
 executive officer, that the laws should be magnified and the mur- 
 derers brought to justice; but the blood of her innocent victims had 
 not been wholly wiped from the floor of the awful arena, where the 
 citizens of a sovereign state pounced upon two defenseless serv- 
 ants of God our Prophet and our Patriarch, before the senate of 
 that state rescued one of the indicted actors in that mournful 
 tragedy from the sheriff of Hancock county and gave him an hon- 
 orable seat in her hall of legislation, and all who were indicted by 
 the grand jury of Hancock county for the murder of Generals 
 Joseph and Hyrum Smith are suffered to roam at large watching 
 for further prey. 
 
 To crown the climax of those bloody deeds the state has re- 
 pealed all those chartered rights, by which we might have lawfully 
 defended ourselves against aggressors. If we defend ourselves 
 hereafter against violence whether it comes under the shadow of 
 law or otherwise (for we have reason to expect it both ways) we 
 shall then be charged with treason and suffer the penalty ; and if 
 we continue passive and non-resistant we must certainly expect 
 to perish, for our enemies have sworn it. 
 
36 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 And here, Sir, permit us to state that General Joseph Smith, 
 during his short life, was arraigned at the bar of his country about 
 fifty times charged with criminal offenses, but was acquitted every 
 time by his country, his enemies, or rather his religious opponents, 
 almost invariably being his judges. And we further testify that 
 as a people, we are law abiding, peaceable, and without crime and 
 we challenge the world to prove the contrary ; and while other less 
 cities in Illinois have had special courts instituted to try their 
 criminals, we have been stripped of every source of arraigning 
 marauders and murderers who are prowling around to destroy us 
 except the common magistracy. 
 
 With these facts before you, Sir, will you write to us without 
 delay as a father and friend and advise us what to do. We are 
 members of the same great confederacy. Our fathers, nay some of 
 us, have fought and bled for our country, and we love her Con- 
 stitution dearly. 
 
 In the name of Israel's God and by virtue of multiplied ties of 
 country and kindred, we ask your friendly interposition in our 
 favor. Will it be too much for us to ask you to convene a special 
 session of congress and furnish us an asylum, where we can enjoy 
 our rights of conscience and religion unmolested? Or, will you in 
 a special message to that body, when convened recommend a 
 remonstrance against such unhallowed acts of oppression and ex- 
 patriation as this people have continued to receive from the states 
 of Missouri and Illinois? Or, will you favor us by your personal 
 influence and by your official rank ? Or will you express our views 
 concerning what is called the 'Great Western Measure' of colonizing 
 the Latter-day Saints in Oregon, the northwestern territory, or 
 some location remote from the states, where the hand of oppression 
 shall not crush every noble principle and extinguish every patriotic 
 feeling? 
 
 And now, Honored Sir, having reached out our imploring hands 
 to you, with deep solemnity, we would importune with you as a 
 father, a friend, a patriot and the head of a mighty nation, by the 
 Constitution of American Liberty, by the blood of our fathers who 
 have fought for the independence of this Republic, by the blood of 
 the martyrs which has been shed in our midst, by the wailings of 
 the widows and orphans, by their murdered fathers and mothers, 
 brothers and sisters, wives and children, by the dread of 
 immediate destruction from secret combinations now forming for 
 our overthrow, and by every endearing tie that binds man to man 
 and renders life bearable, and that too, for aught we know for the 
 last time, that you will lend your immediate aid to quell the violence 
 of mobocracy, and exert your influence to establish us as a people 
 in our civil and religious rights where we now are, or in some part 
 of the United States, or at some place remote therefrom, where 
 we may colonize in peace and safety as soon as circumstances will 
 permit. 
 
 We sincerely hope that your future prompt measure towards 
 us will be dictated by the best feelings that dwell in the bosom of 
 
PERSECUTIONS ENDURED BY PROPHET AND SAINTS 37 
 
 humanity, and the blessing of a grateful people and of many ready 
 to perish shall come upon you 
 
 We are Sir 
 
 with great respect, 
 
 Your Obt. Servts. 
 
 [Signed] Brigham Young, 
 Willard Richards, 
 Orson Spencer, 
 Orson Pratt, 
 W. W. Phelps, 
 A. W. Babbitt, 
 J. M. Bernhisel, 
 Committee in behalf of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day 
 Saints at Nauvoo, Illinois. 
 
 P.S. As many of our communications, postmarked at Nauvoo 
 have failed of their destination and the mails around us have been 
 intercepted by our enemies, we shall send this to some distant 
 office by the hand of a special messenger. D.H.C. 7:402-404 
 
 MISSOURI MOBOCRACY 
 
 A pitiable yielding to murderous hate was exhibited in June, 
 1843, by Reynolds and Ford, the governors respectively of the 
 great states of Missouri and Illinois. The adviser of Reynolds 
 was John C. Bennett, the corrupt traitor ; the adviser of Ford was 
 Sam C. Owens, one of the leaders of the Jackson mob. 
 
 On the 13th day of June, Thomas Reynolds, governor of the 
 state of Missouri, made a requisition upon the state of Illinois for 
 the person of Joseph Smith, Jun., charged with treason, on the 
 ground that he was a fugitive from justice. To show the close 
 communion of the quartette, Reynolds, Bennett, Ford and Owens, it 
 is well to note that Bennett and Owens, before any papers were 
 issued, made their boasts that the governors of the two states 
 would comply with their demands, and that Joseph Smith would 
 be delivered to death at the hands of his old enemies in Missouri. 
 And on the 10th of June, three days before the requisition was 
 issued, Sam Owens and John C. Bennett had informed Governor 
 Ford by letter that Joseph Reynolds, sheriff of Jackson County, 
 (although the alleged offense of treason had been committed in 
 Daviess County) would be appointed by Governor Reynolds of Mis- 
 souri to receive the person of Joseph Smith from the officials of 
 Illinois; and they, in the same letter, instructed Governor Ford to 
 appoint Harmon T. Wilson of Hancock County, to serve the writ 
 which they demanded Ford to issue. Their reason for wanting 
 Reynolds of Jackson County is clear; he was known to be in 
 sympathy with the mob there, while the officers of Daviess County 
 might have an abhorrence of murder and might refuse to be so 
 pliant as the assassins desired. While their reason for demanding 
 the appointment of Harmon T. Wilson was stated in a letter to 
 Ford by Sam C. Owens in the following words: 
 
 "Dr. Bennett further writes me that he has made an arrange- 
 
38 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 merit with Harmon T. Wilson, of Hancock County, (Carthage, seat 
 of justice,) in whose hands he wishes the writ that shall be issued 
 by you to be put." 
 
 The plan as dictated to the governors by these villians was 
 executed. 
 
 On the same day that the governor of Missouri appointed 
 Reynolds to go to Illinois after the person of the Prophet, Joseph 
 started with Emma and their children to see her sister Mrs. Was- 
 son who lived near Dixon, Lee County, Illinois. Five days later, 
 on the 18th of June, a message was received at Xauvoo from Judge 
 James Adams, of Springfield, from which it was learned that Ford 
 had issued the writ for Joseph and that it was on the way. Hyrum 
 Smith immediately sent Stephen Markham and William Clayton 
 on horseback, William riding Joe Duncan, to find and warn the 
 Prophet. These devoted men traveled two hundred and twelve 
 miles in sixty-six hours, and found Joseph between the town of 
 Dixon and Wasson's place. When they told him of the danger he 
 said: 
 
 "Do not be alarmed, I have no fear, and shall not flee. I will 
 find friends and the Missourians cannot slay me, I tell you in the 
 name of Israel's God." 
 
 Wilson and Reynolds had disguised themselves and proposed 
 to be "Mormon" Elders, following Joseph to Wesson's. On the 23rd 
 of June they reached that place while the family were at dinner 
 and said: "We want to see Brother Joseph." 
 
 They seized him the instant they found him and presented 
 cocked pistols to his breast, without showing any writ or serving 
 any process. Joseph enquired: "What is the meaning of this?" 
 
 And Reynolds replied : "God damn you, be still, or Til shoot 
 you, by God." 
 
 Wilson joined in this awful profanity and threat, and they 
 both struck the Prophet with their pistols. He only said: 
 
 "Kill me if you will, I am not afraid to die; and I have en- 
 dured so much oppression that I am weary of life. But I am a 
 strong man, and I could cast both of you down, if I would. If you 
 have any legal process to serve, present it, for I am at all times 
 subject to law and shall not offer resistance." 
 
 At this time, Stephen Markham walked toward them and 
 the kidnappers swore they would kill him; but he paid no atten- 
 tion to their threats. Still bruising the Prophet with their pistols 
 and threatening every instant to kill him if he spoke, they dragged 
 him to a wagon without, and would have driven away not permit- 
 ting him to say one word to his family or to obtain his hat and coat, 
 but Stephen Markham interposed. He boldly seized the horses by 
 the bits, and would not let them go until Emma could run from the 
 house with the Prophet's clothing. 
 
 Stephen mounted a horse and started to Dixon where the 
 kidnappers also proceeded at full speed without even allowing 
 Joseph to speak to his wife or little children. The wretches had 
 not shown any writ, nor had they told the Prophet what w r as the 
 charge against him. During the whole journey of eight miles to 
 Dixon they continued to strike his sides with their pistols and to 
 
PERSECUTIONS ENDURED BY PROPHET AND SAINTS 39 
 
 swear that they would have his life. So brutal were their blows 
 that he almost fainted, and each side was turned black and blue for 
 a circumference of eighteen inches. 
 
 At Dixon they thrust him into a room at the tavern and 
 guarded him there, while ordering fresh horses to be ready in 
 five minutes. As Stephen Markham had raised an alarm at Dixon 
 and proposed to get a lawyer, Reynolds once more declared his in- 
 tention to shoot the Prophet. Joseph said : "Why do you make this 
 threat so often. If you want to shoot me, do so. I am not afraid." 
 
 The continued calmness and the undaunted heroism of the 
 Prophet had their effect upon his captors ; and at last they desisted 
 from their threats, although they continued their abuse. No doubt 
 they would have killed him but they were too cowardly. They want- 
 ed to get him into Missouri where the murder could be consum- 
 mated without any danger to them. The lawyers whom Stephen 
 secured for the Prophet were not permitted by Reynolds and Wilson 
 to consult their client; but the effect of this high-handed proceed- 
 ing was to arouse the indignation of the landlord and his friends. 
 They gathered around the hotel and told Reynolds that this might 
 be the Missouri way, but it would not do for Dixon, where the 
 people were law-abiding and would not permit any man to be 
 kidnapped and dragged away without knowing the charge against 
 him and without an opportunity for judicial examination. As a 
 large crowd had gathered by this time and as they threatened to 
 take summary action against the brigands, Reynolds and Wilson 
 concluded to permit a consultation with the lawyers. As soon as 
 he could get speech with the attorneys, Joseph told them that he 
 had been taken prisoner without process, had been insulted, bruised 
 and threatened ; and that he wanted to sue out a writ of habeas 
 corpus. At this Reynolds swore that he would only wait half an 
 hour. A Mr. Dixon who had opposed Reynolds and Wilson in their 
 outrageous doings, immediately sent messengers to the master in 
 chancery and to Lawyer Walker to have them come to Dixon to get 
 out a writ of habeas corpus. 
 
 The next morning the writ was issued, returnable before Judge 
 Caton of the ninth judicial circuit at Ottawa, and duly served 
 upon Reynolds and Wilson. 
 
 Writs were also obtained against them for threatening the 
 life of Stephen Markham, for assaults upon Joseph and for false 
 imprisonment; and these villains were soon placed in the custody 
 of the sheriff of Lee County, whereupon their demeanor became 
 as craven as it had before been bold and threatening. 
 
 In the meantime Joseph had sent William Clayton to Nauvoo 
 to inform Hyrum of what was being done. 
 
 The Prophet still in captivity to Reynolds and Wilson, who 
 in turn were in custody of Sheriff Campbell, proceeded that night 
 to Pawpaw grove, thirty-two miles on the road to Ottawa. Here 
 Reynolds and Wilson again began to abuse their captive ; but Camp- 
 bell came to his assistance and slept by his side that night to pro- 
 tect him from further assault. 
 
 Early the next morning the hotel was filled with citizens who 
 wanted to see the Prophet and hear him preach. Fearing the 
 
40 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 effect of an address from Joseph, Sheriff Reynolds yelled : "I want 
 you to understand that this man is my legal prisoner, and you must 
 disperse." 
 
 This was false. No writ or other process had been served 
 upon Joseph, and he was nobody's legal prisoner. But without 
 waiting to discuss the legal question, an old man named David 
 Town, who was lame and carried a large hickory walking stick, 
 advanced upon Reynolds and said : 
 
 "You damned infernal puke, we'll learn you to come here and 
 interrupt gentlemen. Sit doivn there, [pointing to a very low chair] 
 and sit still. Don't you open your head till General Smith gets 
 through talking. If you never learned manners in Missouri, we'll 
 teach you that gentlemen are not to be imposed upon by a nigger- 
 driver. You cannot kidnap men here. There's a committee in this 
 grove that ivill sit on your case; and, sir, it is the highest tribunal in 
 the United States, as from its decision there is no appeal." 
 
 Reynolds was made aware that Mr. Town was the head of a 
 committee, just then assembled to deal with some land speculators 
 who had attempted to impose upon honest settlers, and he obeyed 
 with great meekness. 
 
 The Prophet talked an hour and a half on the subject of mar- 
 riage, which was the topic selected for him by his congregation. 
 From that hour on his freedom commenced. 
 
 Learning at Pawpaw grove that Judge Caton was absent in 
 New York the party turned back to Dixon, arriving there about 
 4 o'clock in the afternoon of June 25th. A return of the writ of 
 habeas corpus was made to the master in chancery, with the en- 
 dorsement that the judge was absent; whereupon a new writ was 
 issued, returnable before the nearest tribunal in the fifth judicial 
 district authorized to hear and determine writs of habeas corpus, 
 and Mr. Campbell, the sheriff of Lee County, at once served it upon 
 Wilson and Reynolds. Arrangements were then made to go before 
 Judge Stephen A. Douglas at Quincy, a distance of two hundred 
 and sixty miles; and in the meantime, anticipating treachery, 
 Stephen Markham started with a letter to the Prophet's friends in- 
 forming them further of his movements. This action was deemed 
 necessary ; for the whole country seemed to be swarming with men 
 anxious to carry Joseph into Missouri, where, according to the 
 free boasts of Reynolds, Wilson and others his death was certain* 
 
 The party in charge of the Prophet proceeded toward Quincy. 
 On Tuesday, the 27th of June, shortly after crossing Fox River, 
 they met seven of the Prophet's friends. The brethren burst into 
 tears at sight of Joseph ; and as they embraced him he spoke to his 
 captors who, it must be remembered, had not yet shown any writ 
 or other process and were therefore kidnappers : 
 
 "I think I will not go to Missouri this time, gentlemen. These 
 are my boys." 
 
 Then he mounted his favorite horse Joe Duncan ;* and the en- 
 
 *The horse "Joe Duncan" owned by the Prophet is here identified. In 
 a letter written by C. Bartholomew to the Compiler of this book is the follow- 
 ing: "Brother Lundwall: Sister Huldah Thomas asked me to tell you that 
 
PERSECUTIONS ENDURED BY PROPHET AND SAINTS 41 
 
 tire company proceeded to a farm house and made a halt. This 
 party of the Prophet's friends was under the leadership of Thomas 
 Grover, and from them it was learned that Elders Charles C. Rich 
 and Wilson Law with other and larger parties were seeking the 
 Prophet to prevent his murder and abduction. 
 
 Reynolds and Wilson shook with fear. Peter W. Cownover, 
 one of the Prophet's friends, said to Wilson: "What is the matter 
 with you ? Have you got the ague ?" 
 
 Wilson managed to stammer, "No." 
 
 Reynolds asked : "Is Jem Flack in the crowd ?" 
 
 Some one answered: "He is not now, but you will see him 
 tomorrow about this time." 
 
 "Then," said Reynolds, "I am a dead man; for I know him 
 of old." 
 
 Cownover told the foolish fellow not to be frightened, for no 
 one intended to injure him. 
 
 Stephen Markham had turned back when he met this party 
 and was with them. He walked up to Reynolds and offered his 
 hand, when the bandit cried out: "Do you meet me as a friend? 
 I expected to be a dead man when I met you again." 
 
 Markham replied: "We are friends, except in law; that must 
 have its course." 
 
 At Andover that night Reynolds and Wilson gathered a party 
 and held a consultation. They intended to raise a company, take 
 the Prophet by force, escape from their own arrest, and run with 
 him to the mouth of Rock River, on the Mississippi, where they 
 said they had a company of men all ready to drag him into Missouri 
 and wreak vengeance upon him. But for Stephen Markham's 
 vigilance they would have executed this plan, but he foiled them by 
 putting the sheriff of Lee County on his guard. 
 
 On Wednesday, the 28th of June, they encamped in a little 
 grove at the head of Elleston Creek. While the animals were feed- 
 ing, Reynolds said: "No, we will go from here to the mouth of 
 Rock River and take steamboat to Quincy." 
 
 Markham replied: "No, for we are prepared to travel and 
 will go by land." 
 
 Wilson and Reynolds both yelled out : "No, by God, we won't ; 
 we will never go by Nauvoo alive." 
 
 Both drew their pistols upon Markham, who turned to Sheriff 
 Campbell saying: "When these men took Joseph a prisoner, they 
 took even his pocket knife. They are now prisoners of yours and 
 I demand that their arms be seized." 
 
 Reynolds and Wilson refused to yield their weapons ; but when 
 the sheriff threatened to call for assistance, they submitted. 
 
 While on this journey and resting in a little grove of timber 
 where the ground was well sodded, one of the lawyers for Reynolds 
 
 the horse she told you about which her grandfather, James Duncan, gave to 
 the Prophet Joseph Smith, was raised by her grandfather from a colt, and 
 her mother, Matilda A. Duncan, helped take care of it when very small. 
 When they came west her mother asked her father (James Duncan) what 
 had become of the horse. He said: "I gave it to the Prophet." The Prophet 
 named it Joe Duncan, after Joseph Smith and James Duncan." 
 
42 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 and Wilson began to boast of his prowess as a wrestler. He offered 
 to wager any sum that he could throw any man in the state of Illi- 
 nois at side-hold. Stephen Markham, a side-hold wrestler, told the 
 lawyer that he would not contest for money but would try a bout 
 for fun. They grappled, and the man threw Markham, when a 
 great shout arose from Joseph's enemies, and they began to taunt 
 the Prophet and his friends. 
 
 Joseph turned to Brother Philemon C. Merrill, a young man 
 from Nauvoo, subsequently adjutant in the Mormon Battalion, and 
 now a resident of St. David, Arizona, and said : "Get up and throw 
 that man." 
 
 Merrill was about to say that side-hold was not his game, but 
 before he could speak the Prophet commanded him in such a way 
 that his tongue was silenced. He arose to his feet filled with the 
 strength of a Samson. Merrill lifted his arms and said to the 
 lawyer: "Take your choice of sides." 
 
 The man took the left side with his right arm under; when 
 the company all declared that this was not fair as he had a double 
 advantage. Merrill felt such confidence in the word of the Prophet 
 that it made no difference to him how much advantage his op- 
 ponent took, and he allowed the hold. As they grappled Joseph 
 said: "Philemon, when I count three, throiv him!" 
 
 On the instant after the word dropped from Joseph's lips, 
 Merrill, with the strength of a giant, threw the lawyer over his 
 left shoulder, and he fell striking his head upon the earth. 
 
 Awe fell upon the opponents of the Prophet when they saw 
 this, and there were no more challenges to wrestle during the 
 journey. 
 
 While they were lodged at a farm house near Monmouth one 
 night Reynolds and Wilson again plotted to raise a mob and seize 
 Joseph; but Peter Cownover detected them, and Sheriff Campbell 
 put them under restraint, feeling that they were no longer to be 
 trusted. On Thursday, the 29th of June, another party of the 
 Prophet's friends joined him: He called James Flack to his side 
 and told him he must not injure Reynolds whatever the provocation 
 might have been; for the Prophet had pledged himself to protect 
 the Missouri sheriff. 
 
 The lawyers and Sheriff Campbell, with other civil officers, de- 
 cided that the hearing upon the writ of habeas corpus might law- 
 fully be held in Nauvoo, and they desired to go there rather than 
 to Quincy ; so the party turned in that direction. This occasioned 
 great joy to Joseph. His bruises were forgotten, and that night 
 when they reached the house of Michael Crane, on Honey Creek, 
 he sprang from the buggy, walked up to the fence, and and leaped 
 over without touching it. 
 
 A messenger had carried the news of the home-coming to 
 Nauvoo, and on Friday, June the 30th, a joyous cavalcade went out 
 to meet the Prophet. The meeting between Joseph and Hyrum was 
 most touching. Joseph had just passed through one of the many 
 perils of his life, but one of the few which Hyrum did not share; 
 and his return caused Hyrum to weep for joy as he took the Proph- 
 et in his arms. The spectacle of the entry into Nauvoo was most 
 
PERSECUTIONS ENDURED BY PROPHET AND SAINTS 43 
 
 imposing, for the delighted people sang for joy and made such dem- 
 onstration of love and gladness in Joseph's behalf, that the lawyers 
 and officers from Dixon were charmed and deeply impressed. 
 
 After they were within the city the multitude seemed unwill- 
 ing to disperse ; but Joseph said to them : 
 
 "I am out of the power of the Missourians again, thank God ; 
 and thank you all for your kindness and love. I bless you in the 
 name of Jesus Christ. I shall address you in the grove, near the 
 temple at 4 o'clock this afternoon." 
 
 A feast had been prepared at Joseph's house, and there he 
 went — still in the hands of his captors, Reynolds and Wilson, who 
 were the prisoners of Sheriff Campbell of Lee County; and all of 
 these with about fifty of the Prophet's friends sat at his table. The 
 place of honor was given to Reynolds and Wilson who were waited 
 upon by Emma with as much courtesy as could have been bestowed 
 upon a beloved guest. This kindness heaped coals of fire on their 
 heads, for they remembered the time when they had dragged the 
 Prophet from the side of his wife and little ones and had refused 
 to permit him to say farewell. 
 
 Under the advice of the lawyers, Joseph with his captors was 
 brought before the municipal court of Nauvoo, and all the writs 
 and other papers were filed there. The case was heard upon its 
 merits, and the Prophet was discharged. The lawyers concurred 
 that in all the transactions since the day of his arrest Joseph held 
 himself amenable to the law and its officers ; and that the decision 
 of the municipal court of Nauvoo was not only legal and just but 
 was within the power of this tribunal under the city charter. 
 
 But before the actual hearing began in the municipal court, 
 Reynolds and Wilson in company with Lawyer Davis, of Carthage, 
 started for that place threatening to raise a mob with which to 
 drag Joseph from Nauvoo. Desiring a larger force than they could 
 readily command at Carthage, they applied to Governor Ford for 
 the state militia. But the governor sent a trusted messenger to 
 Nauvoo to obtain evidence concerning the seizure of the Prophet 
 and his discharge on the writ of habeas corpus; and this gentleman 
 secured a copy of all the papers and evidence in the case. Prominent 
 citizens of Lee County added their affidavits; and several gentle- 
 men went up to Springfield to represent the matter fairly to his 
 Excellency. Whatever Ford's motive may have been — whether a 
 desire to make political capital for his party with influential men 
 who took the side of the Saints in this question, or whether he had 
 fear that he would lose his personal prestige by precipitating the 
 unlawful strife — he took the only proper course; and after long 
 consideration, and upon the representation of his trusted mes- 
 senger, he refused to order out the militia, and so reported to 
 Sheriff Reynolds and Governor Reynolds of Missouri. The posi- 
 tion which Ford assumed was that no resistance had been made 
 to any writ issued by the state of Illinois, and therefore that Illinois 
 had neither right nor interest in the matter. 
 
 On the 2nd and 3rd days of July parties returned who had 
 been out from Nauvoo searching for the Prophet. One party had 
 gone up the river on the little steamer Maid of Iowa, under com- 
 
44 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 mand of Dan Jones, and had passed through a very adventurous 
 voyage. This company was accompanied by Apostle John Taylor. 
 Another party, under the leadership of General Charles C. Rich, 
 had traveled five hundred miles on horse-back in seven days. They 
 were all delighted to find the Prophet safe at home ; and he blessed 
 them for their love and devotion to him. 
 
 Life of Joseph the Prophet, by George Q. Cannon, pp. 415-424. 
 
 A PROMISE TO LIVE FIVE YEARS 
 
 By Joseph the Prophet 
 
 Soon after the apostasy that took place in Kirtland our enemies 
 began again to trouble us. Having seen our prosperity in every- 
 thing to which we had set our hands previous to this, they became 
 discouraged, and ceased their operations ; but, suddenly discovering 
 that there was a division in our midst, their fruitful imaginations 
 were aroused to the utmost, to invent new schemes to accomplish 
 our destruction. 
 
 Their first movement was to sue Joseph for debt, and, with 
 this pretense, seize upon every piece of property belonging to any 
 of the family. Joseph then had in his possession four Egyptian 
 mummies, with some ancient records that accompanied them. 
 These the mob swore they would take, and then burn every one of 
 them. Accordingly, they obtained an execution upon them for an 
 unjust debt of fifty dollars; but, by various stratagems, we suc- 
 ceeded in keeping them out of their hands. 
 
 The persecution finally became so violent that Joseph regarded 
 it as unsafe to remain any longer in Kirtland, and began to make 
 arrangements to move to Missouri. One evening, before finishing 
 his preparations for the contemplated journey, he sat in council 
 with the brethren at our house. After giving them directions as 
 to what he desired them to do, while he was absent from them, 
 and, as he was about leaving the room he said: "Well, brethren, 
 I do not recollect anything more, but one thing, brethren, is cer- 
 tain, I shall see you again, let what will happen, for I have a 
 promise of life five years, and they cannot kill me until that time 
 is expired." 
 
 That night he was warned by the Spirit to make his escape, 
 with his family, as speedily as possible; he therefore arose from 
 his bed, and took his family, with barely beds and clothing suf- 
 ficient for them, and left Kirtland in the dead hour of the night. 
 The day following, the constable, Luke Johnson, an apostate, served 
 a summons upon my husband, telling him that no harm was in- 
 tended, and desired him to go immediately to the office. 
 
 History of the Prophet, by his Mother, Lucy Smith, pp. 217-18. 
 
 JOSEPH NOT TO SEE FORTY YEARS 
 
 The brethren of the Twelve took the propeller Hercules for 
 Chicago at 10 a.m. Fare in the cabin $7. We had comfortable 
 staterooms. We spent the day in writing and in social conversa- 
 tion with each other concerning the death of Joseph and Hyrum 
 
PERSECUTIONS ENDURED BY PROPHET AND SAINTS 45 
 
 and the welfare of the church and our families. A variety of sub- 
 jects were called up, each one expressing his feelings freely. Presi- 
 dent Brigham Young said he wished me to keep an account of things 
 as they were passing, as he should look to me for his journal at a 
 future day. Elder Wight said that Joseph told him, while in 
 Liberty jail, Missouri, in 1839, he would not live to see forty years, 
 but he was not to reveal it till he was dead. 
 
 From Elder Wilford Woodruff's Journal — D. H. C. 7:212. 
 
 WAS PERSECUTED FROM BOYHOOD TO END OF LIFE 
 
 Joseph Smith did more for the salvation of the human family 
 in the short time he lived than any other man that ever lived in the 
 world, Jesus Christ excepted. He lived to be 39 years old and en- 
 dured a continued scene of persecution and oppression from the 
 time that the angel of the Lord appeared to him, until the time of 
 his death. He bore testimony to the work of the Lord through life 
 and sealed his testimony with his own blood. I have been with the 
 Prophet Joseph and heard his instructions weekly and sometimes 
 daily. The last time I heard him speak in public he spoke to the 
 Legion (Nauvoo Legion). After telling what he had passed 
 through and what he had suffered from men because he preached 
 the Gospel of Jesus Christ, he said: From my boyhood up to the 
 present time I have been hunted like a roe upon the mountains. I 
 have never been allowed to live like other men. I have been driven, 
 chased, stoned, whipped, robbed, mobbed, imprisoned, persecuted, 
 accused falsely of everything bad. I have suffered till the Lord 
 knows I have suffered enough." Diary of John Pulsipher. 
 
 WHY LATTER-DAY SAINTS WERE PERSECUTED 
 
 By Joseph the Prophet 
 
 Must we, because we believe in the fullness of the gospel 
 of Jesus Christ, the administration of angels and the communion 
 of the Holy Ghost, like the prophets and apostles of old, — must 
 we be mobbed with impunity, be exiled from our habitations and 
 property without remedy, murdered without mercy, and govern- 
 ment find the weapons and pay the vagabonds for doing the jobs, 
 and give them the plunder into the bargain? Must we, because 
 we believe in enjoying the constitutional privilege and right of 
 worshipping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own 
 consciences, and because we believe in repentance, and baptism 
 for the remission of sins, the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying 
 on of the hands, the resurrection of the dead, the millennium, the 
 day of judgment and the Book of Mormon as the history of the 
 aborigines of this continent, — must we be expelled from the in- 
 stitutions of our country, the rights of citizenship, and the graves 
 of our friends and brethren, and the government lock the gate 
 of humanity and shut the door of redress against us? If so, fare- 
 well freedom ! adieu to personal safety ! and let the red hot wrath 
 of an offended God purify the nation of such sinks of corruption ; 
 
46 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 for that realm is hurrying to ruin where vice has the power to 
 expel virtue. Life of Joseph the Prophet, by George Q. Cannon, p. 433. 
 
 A CHARMED LIFE 
 
 By Jane H. Martineau 
 
 The recent death of Patriarch Benjamin F. Johnson in 
 Mesa, Arizona, recalls to the writer an episode of the persecu- 
 tions of the Latter-day Saints in Missouri in 1838, in which the 
 deceased was a prominent actor; also, of a lady greatly beloved 
 by all who knew her who has also passed to that better clime. 
 
 Mr. Johnson, then a young man of twenty years, had been 
 taken prisoner by the ruffian horde styled an army, commanded 
 by General Clark, and for eight days kept under guard at a camp 
 fire in weather intensely cold with no shelter from the piercing 
 winds by day or night; no bed except a few boughs between his 
 body and the snow, which was more than a foot in depth ; no 
 covering of any kind, and his only resource against freezing at 
 night a constant replenishing of the camp fire, making sleep al- 
 most impossible. In addition to all this, he was denied any food, 
 and was only kept from starvation by the pity of the negro cook, 
 who stealthily gave him scraps left from meals when he could 
 do so unobserved. 
 
 The wretch who at Haun's Mill slew an old revolutionary 
 soldier was in the camp carrying the corn cutter with which he 
 had murdered the old man and which was still dyed with his 
 blood. Day after day he threatened Johnson's life with it, saying 
 he would get more "Mormon" blood upon it when he got ready, 
 and others of the mob frequently told him, "We'll kill you to- 
 morrow, sure, and in a way to make you yell right smart." 
 
 While sitting upon a log one day a brute came to him with 
 rifle in hand, saying, "You give up Mormonism right now, or I'll 
 shoot you." Receiving a decisive refusal, he exclaimed with fear- 
 ful oaths, "I'll send you to hell right now," took deliberate aim 
 not ten feet distant and pulled the trigger. No explosion oc- 
 curred, and he cursed fearfully, saying he had used the gun for 
 twenty years and it had never before misfired. He examined the 
 lock, put in fresh priming and again essayed to shoot Johnson, 
 but without effect, and a third time with the same result. A by- 
 stander told him to fix up his gun a little, and then, said he, "You 
 can kill the cuss all right. "Yes," said the would-be murderer, 
 "I'll put in a fresh load." He did so and again tried to kill John- 
 son. This time the gun burst and killed the wretch upon the spot, 
 and a by-stander was heard to say, "You'd better not try to kill 
 that man." And thus, day after day, Johnson was continually 
 threatened with death. 
 
 But help was coming, and that by the compassion of a young 
 girl, who visited every family in the "Mormon" settlement not 
 many miles away and persuaded men and women to meet at the 
 log school-house and pray for his release. They did so, and that 
 night, next day, and the following night they kept unceasing in 
 prayer. As one ceased praying another began, and then her and 
 
PERSECUTIONS ENDURED BY PROPHET AND SAINTS 47 
 
 another. Some went home to breakfast, dinner or supper, and 
 returned again to pray for the release of their brother. 
 
 At length this unceasing prayer was answered. About mid- 
 night of the second night the general in command caused Johnson 
 to be brought to his tent, and said to him : "Johnson, I have had 
 all I could do to save your life until now, but I can't save you 
 from death any longer. The men swear they will kill you to- 
 morrow. Give up your Mormonism and I will adopt you as my 
 son — I have none — I am wealthy, and you shall inherit all I have, 
 and your life will be saved." 
 
 Johnson said his religion was more to him than his life, and 
 he would sooner die. Finding argument could not alter the young 
 man's decision, the general said, "Well, all I can do is to turn you 
 loose in the woods, and for you to escape if you can." He ordered 
 a soldier to conduct Johnson to a deserted "Mormon" log house 
 about half a mile from camp, leave him there and return, which 
 he did, and the young man was free. But what a freedom — in 
 snow two feet deep, no blanket, no arms to kill game or for self- 
 defense and no food except about two quarts of parched corn. 
 And he must make his way for miles — for days. He could not 
 go to the "Mormon" village nearest at hand, as he would be 
 sought for there, be retaken and murdered. And so he plodded 
 through the woods, half starved and frozen, having to wade 
 sloughs and brooks filled with snow or ice, and no chance to dry 
 his frozen garments and limbs. He finally reached a house, but 
 could not remain, as he found his foes were hunting the whole 
 country for him. But here he obtained an old quilt, two or three 
 "pones" of corn bread, a flint and steel to make a fire with, and 
 with another man started on his weary journey that night to 
 reach Fort Leavenworth, about two hundred miles distant. And 
 this refuge, after days of fearful privation, they at last gained, 
 being hospitably received and cared for. 
 
 And who was the Angel of Mercy in human form — a young 
 girl in her teens, who gained his release and saved his life through 
 the prayer of the Saints? It was Sister Eliza R. Snow, his inti- 
 mate friend. 
 
 In closing this sketch I will say I have read the foregoing in 
 father Johnson's journal, and have also heard it from his own 
 lips, and have thought it well, for the rising generation, born 
 and living in peace and comfort, to know something of what their 
 fathers and mothers have had to endure for the Gospel's sake. 
 
 Millennial Star, Vol. 68:43-44. 
 
 IN 1843 JOSEPH THE PROPHET HAD BEEN 
 ARRESTED 42 TIMES 
 
 I landed in the city of Nauvoo on the 9th of May, 1843, hav- 
 ing then ended the 19-day journey by water and land which was 
 a joyful home to me, and I longed to see the Prophet. I then had 
 the opportunity of striking glad hands with him and my heart 
 leaped in me for joy, for I had greater affection towards him than 
 for any person on the earth. I viewed the Temple; then I re- 
 
48 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 membered my night vision I had when yet in the eastern counties 
 seeing the Temple in the same form as it really was and the city 
 the same. After having been in the city over forty days till 
 Brother Joseph and his wife was going to visit her relatives about 
 seventy miles up the Mississippi river, all being peace at home 
 save for a few false brethren who sought to overthrow or destroy 
 his happiness, who gave notice to his enemies of Missouri, for 
 the plan was then devised to take him to Missouri and kill him. 
 There was a man named Harmon Wilson who followed him under 
 the pretense of an old writ to take him, but the Lord was with 
 him that night and told him what to do so he escaped the hands 
 of his enemies and brought them to shame and confounded them 
 that they was in fear and great trouble of themselves. He then 
 told us that ivas the l+2nd suit brought against him falsely and he 
 always ivas cleared by the laws of the land. 
 
 Diary of George W. Laub. 
 
 LAWSUITS TO WHICH JOSEPH SMITH WAS SUBJECTED 
 
 By George A. Smith 
 
 Joseph Smith, the Prophet, was subjected, during his short 
 ministerial career of fifteen years, to about fifty vexatious law- 
 suits. The principal expense was incurred in liquidating lawyers' 
 bills, and the brethren's time and expenditure in attending courts 
 to defend the Prophet from mob violence. Magistrates' court ex- 
 penses were generally one hundred dollars. The Prophet paid 
 Generals Doniphan and Atchison for legal services at Richmond, 
 Mo., in 1838-39, sixteen thousand dollars; but this amount was 
 fruitlessly expended, as the benefits of the law were not accorded 
 to him, because of the predominance and over-ruling power of a 
 mob. 
 
 At the Prophet's trial at Monmouth, 111., in 1841, before Judge 
 Douglas, the lawyers' fees and expenses amounted to three thou- 
 sand dollars. His next trial was before Judge Pope, U. S. District 
 Court, in 1842-43, the expenses of which may be reasonably esti- 
 mated at twelve thousand dollars. 
 
 Cyrus Walker charged ten thousand dollars for defending 
 Joseph in his political arrest, or the attempt at kidnapping him 
 at Dixon, 111., in 1843. There were four other lawyers employed 
 for the defense besides Walker. The expenses of the defense in 
 this trial were enormous, involving the amounts incurred by the 
 horse companies who went in pursuit to aid Joseph, and the trip 
 of the steamer Maid of Iowa, from Nauvoo to Ottawa, and may 
 be fairly estimated at one hundred thousand dollars. 
 
 J. D., Vol. 13:109-110. 
 
 THE BATTLE OF NAUVOO AS WITNESSED 
 BY A "JACK-MORMON" 
 
 By L. C. Bidamon 
 
 I am a Virginian by birth, removed to Ohio with my parents 
 when a boy, and there married, but lost my wife by death, and 
 
PERSECUTIONS ENDURED BY PROPHET AND SAINTS 49 
 
 subsequently removed to Canton, Ohio. When I first arrived in 
 Nauvoo in April, 1846, I found the city menaced by a wicked mob, 
 who, notwithstanding the majority of the Mormons had already 
 gone into the wilderness, were relentless in their persecutions of 
 the few who remained behind. I was soon convinced that the 
 Mormons were a much abused people, and as I have always felt 
 inclined to stand up for justice and right at all times and under 
 all circumstances, it was not long before my sympathies were 
 with the Saints. I watched the doings of the mob with a keen 
 eye, and felt indignant when I witnessed how illegal and vexa- 
 tious lawsuits were gotten up, based upon trumped up charges, 
 for the purpose of dragging defendants twenty or thirty miles 
 into out-of-the-way places in order to waylay them, and often 
 for the purpose of whipping and murdering them. And when they, 
 in some instances, refused to go, knowing the object was to kill 
 them, the mobbers set up a great hue and cry that the Mormons 
 disobeyed the law. 
 
 I was finally appointed a trustee on the part of the "New 
 citizens" to negotiate with the mobbers for peace, and was also 
 sent to Governor Ford to lay our grievances before that official. 
 At first he refused to listen to me and swore that he would not 
 spend another dollar in the interest of Hancock county, having 
 already had so much trouble with the people there. I knew, how- 
 ever, that our cause was just, and becoming indignant at the 
 governor's action, I threatened that if he would not do his duty 
 in the matter, I would appeal to the President of the United 
 States. Seeing that I was in earnest, he at last listened to what 
 I had to say, and agreed to send Major Parker with me back to 
 Nauvoo with a posse of twelve men, which were to serve as a 
 guard to protect those upon whom writs might be served in the 
 future. The mob, however, would not recognize Parker's author- 
 ity, and swore by all the devils and saints they could think of, 
 that they would do as they d-d pleased and did not care for the 
 governor nor anybody else; not even Jesus Christ, if He would 
 dare to say a good word for the Mormons. 
 
 Some time afterwards I was sent to Springfield a second 
 time to see the governor. I started down the river in a small 
 rowboat, and the mobbers learning of my departure started in 
 pursuit, crossed the river from Warsaw, and surrounded the 
 house in which I had intended to stop for the night, at Church- 
 ville (now Alexandria, Mo.) There were twelve or fifteen of them. 
 They came in and asked me how I would like to go with them to 
 Mr. Brockman's camp. I answered that I should not like it at all, 
 as I was fully aware that his men were not favorably disposed 
 toward me. "But, by G-d," said they, "you will go," and they made 
 a move as if they wanted to take me by force. Quick as thought 
 I had my hand on my pistol, which in the next instant I held 
 cocked in their faces, while I hallowed out: "Stand back there, 
 or I will blow daylight thru you." The way these mobbers made 
 for the door and scattered in all directions was a caution. Order- 
 ing my two men, whom I had engaged to row me down the river, 
 to get the boat ready, I retreated with pistol in hand, got in the 
 
50 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 boat, pulled to the middle of the stream where the balls of the 
 mobbers could not reach us, and arrived at Quincy in safety. 
 From the latter place I continued the journey by stage to Spring- 
 field. While stopping at Mount Sterling a few hours, I was sur- 
 rounded by the inhabitants who were very curious to know all 
 about the situation at Nauvoo. I made such explanations as I 
 thought proper, and after I was through, a hard-looking indi- 
 vidual with dark features, came up to me and said he was a cap- 
 tain in Singleton's militia, and was going to Nauvoo the next 
 day. All at once it came upon me that I should play the mobbers 
 a trick, in order to avert the immediate danger which threat- 
 ened Nauvoo, and keep the mob off until I had seen the gov- 
 ernor. I asked the fellow if he would carry a letter for me to 
 my brother in Nauvoo. He said he would on condition that I would 
 let him know the contents of it. This I agreed to do. I then wrote 
 a few lines, in which I pretended to advise the citizens of Nauvoo 
 to refrain from shedding blood, if possible; "for," wrote I, "it 
 would be an easy matter for you with your hell acres and hell 
 half acres to destroy the whole mob force at once." 
 
 "What do you mean by hell acres and hell half acres?" de- 
 manded my man. 
 
 "Oh, I don't like to tell you that," said I. 
 
 "Then by G-d," ejaculated he, "I will not carry your letter." 
 
 "Very well," said I, "provided you can keep a secret, I will 
 explain to you." He thought he could, and I then proceeded to 
 tell him that every approach to Nauvoo was undermined and 
 large quantities of powder deposited in such a manner that by 
 the pulling of certain wires, mechanically arranged, it could be 
 exploded at will. Of course there was not a word of truth in that, 
 but he drank it all in and went immediately to the mob camp, 
 where the letter was read. It had the desired effect. The mob, 
 although quite strong enough to have taken Nauvoo at once, con- 
 cluded to wait for reinforcements, which gave me time to return 
 from my visit to the governor, before the final attack was made. 
 
 The governor returned me with orders to Major Flood, of 
 Quincy, for him to proceed to Nauvoo and assist in adjusting the 
 difficulties between the Mormons and the mob. That gentleman 
 was at first unwilling to go, but finally concluded to do so, taking 
 with him a number of other leading men of Quincy. When we 
 arrived at Montrose, we could distinctly hear the cannonading 
 on the prairie east of Nauvoo, and having crossed the river, I sent 
 the Quincy delegation in my carriage out to the mob camp. These 
 gentlemen tried their best to establish peace between the fight- 
 ing parties, but all in vain ; all they succeeded in doing was that 
 they induced the mob to promise to cease hostilities until the next 
 day. As the delegation was returning to Nauvoo several shots 
 were fired after them. I happened to pick up a spent ball, which I 
 presented to Mr. Wood, saying that here was a compliment from 
 the belligerents. At seeing this, Mr. Wood became so indignant 
 that he jumped to his feet, exclaiming, "Give me a gun, and I 
 will stand by you and see it all through. In all my intercourse 
 with people — and I have dealt even with heathens — I have never, 
 
PERSECUTIONS ENDURED BY PROPHET AND SAINTS 51 
 
 in all my life, seen such infamy among mankind." I advised Mr. 
 Wood to keep at a safe distance and witness what was going on, 
 that he might live to testify of our doings, for we all expected 
 to fight till the last. Mr. Wood, who was a wealthy man, subse- 
 quently showed great kindness in a substantial manner toward 
 the afflicted Saints, by sending up large quantities of provisions, 
 partly of his own stock, and partly such as he had influenced 
 others to give. 
 
 Previous to this I, together with a few other men, was sent 
 to the mob camp at Green Plains with a view to bringing about 
 a compromise. On that occasion it became my lot to deliver a 
 speech in defense of the Mormons. Now, I am not a very religious 
 man, and not at all superstitious; in fact, I am inclined to be 
 rather skeptic, but I believe I was inspired on that occasion to 
 portray the condition of the people in Nauvoo, and to plead in 
 behalf of suffering innocence, for even the feelings of the hardened 
 mobocrat Williams seemed to be touched as he listened to me; 
 for I plainly saw tears coursing their way down his guilty cheeks. 
 I told them that the remnant of the Mormons were making prep- 
 arations to get away as fast as possible, and all they asked for 
 was a little more time in which to dispose of their property and 
 raise means for their journey. And furthermore that some of 
 the heads of families were in the service of the United States, 
 marching toward Mexico, and their families could not conveniently 
 be moved until these soldiers had drawn their pay. I was ap- 
 parently making a good impression upon the mobbers, when 
 Thomas C. Sharp, the notorious editor of the Warsaw Signal, in- 
 terrupted me and told me that the war was between the Mormons 
 and the old citizens, and that I had no right to interfere, and 
 further that if we, whom they designated Jack Mormons, did not 
 stand aloof, we should share the same fate as the Mormons. When 
 I alluded to the sufferings of the women and children, he burst 
 out in terrible rage, saying, after uttering a fearful oath : "Drive 
 the women into the river and throw their d-d young ones in after 
 them." 
 
 It was finally agreed that we should meet at Warsaw the 
 following day and make another attempt at compromising. Here 
 I was asked by Mr. Williams to sign a document to the effect that 
 we would see all the Mormons out of Nauvoo within a reasonable 
 time. This I emphatically refused to do, and said that I would 
 see him in hell a thousand fathoms deep before I would put my 
 signature to such a paper. At last I became so disgusted with 
 him that I invited him to come out into the street for five minutes, 
 and we would then and there settle the matter at once so far as 
 we two were concerned. But he refused to engage in that kind 
 of experience. 
 
 When I think of the doings of these fellows, even at this late 
 day (October 7, 1888), it makes my blood boil within; it was a 
 shame, gentlemen, a burning shame, the way your people were 
 treated at that time. 
 
 I returned from Warsaw without effecting any compromise, 
 and our next move was to defend ourselves the best we could. 
 
52 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 We turned the steamboat shafts into cannon, repaired our small 
 arms, manufactured ammunition, and were determined to sell 
 our lives as dear as possible. The famous battle of Nauvoo is a 
 matter of history. I fought by the side of the gallant Captain 
 Anderson, who fell as one of the noble defenders of human rights, 
 but at last we were forced to capitulate, and so incensed were 
 the mobbers at the active part I had taken in the defense, that 
 they put me and two others on the death list, threatening to kill 
 us at sight. To avert their murderous intent, I absented myself 
 from Nauvoo for a few months, and did not return until February, 
 1847. During my absence the robbers plundered my house, the one 
 I had bought of President Young, carrying away and destroying 
 everything they could get a hold of, including my stock of wagons 
 and house furniture, which were never returned to me, save some 
 of the carpets which I had purchased of the Temple committee. 
 When Governor Ford, in his history of Illinois, says that he was 
 not posted in regard to the crimes enacted by the mob at Nauvoo 
 at that time, he tells a wicked lie, for I visited him twice myself, 
 and told him all about it ; and I also know that he was duly informed 
 by others. 
 
 In regard to Joseph Smith, candor compels me to say that he 
 was a noble man, yes, a noble man, indeed. I never met his equal 
 in all my life, and I only saw him once, but that occasion I shall 
 never forget. A certain phrenologist had invited me to accompany 
 him to Nauvoo to pay Joseph a visit, the professor desiring to make 
 an examination of his head. We found Joseph walking in the gar- 
 den; he received us kindly and soon invited us into the house, 
 where I had a two hours' conversation with him. His manners, 
 movements and whole deportment made a deep and lasting im- 
 pression upon me, and convinced me that he was not the impostor 
 and wicked man he had been represented by his enemies to be ; to 
 me he appeared to be a good, honest and noble-hearted man, and 
 from all I have ever learned about him since, I have not had occa- 
 sion to change my opinion about him. 
 
 In answer to further inquiry, the major described the Prophet 
 as a very good looking man, with light complexion and light brown 
 hair. He was strongly built and well proportioned, was about six 
 feet high, and weighed 200 pounds. 
 
 Infancy of the Church, by Andrew Jenson and Edward Stevenson, pp. 
 49-51. 
 
 JOSEPH SMITH BEFORE THE COURT AT MONMOUTH, ILL. 
 
 On Saturday, June 5th, 1841, the Prophet Joseph Smith, on his 
 return from Quincy, 111., to which place he had accompanied his 
 brother Hyrum and William Law on their mission to the East, he 
 was arrested at the Bear Creek hotel by two officers on a warrant 
 from Governor Carlin, of Illinois, to deliver him up to the authori- 
 ties of Missouri. The Prophet Joseph succeeded in getting a writ 
 of habeas corpus, and was taken to Monmouth on the Tuesday fol- 
 lowing. At the hearing, which resulted in the Prophet's discharge, 
 one 0. H. Browning, Esq., appeared in behalf of the defendant, and 
 ably defended him. One of the brethren who was with the Prophet 
 
PERSECUTIONS ENDURED BY PROPHET AND SAINTS 53 
 
 at the hearing sent the following report of the case to the Times 
 and Seasons, which it published under date of June 15th (1841). 
 
 American Hotel, 
 Monmouth, Warren County, Illinois. 
 June 9th, 1841. Wednesday Evening. 
 
 We have just returned from the Court House, where we have listened 
 to one of the most eloquent speeches ever uttered by mortal man, in favor 
 of justice and liberty, by 0. H. Browning, Esq., who has done himself immortal 
 honor in the sight of all patriotic citizens who listened to the same. He 
 occupied the attention of the court for more than two hours, and showed the 
 falsity of the arguments of the opposed counsel, and laid down principles in a 
 lucid and able manner, which ought to guide the court in admitting testimony 
 for the defendant — Joseph Smith. We have heard Mr. Browning on former 
 occasions when he has frequently delighted his audience by his eloquence; but 
 on this occasion he exceeded our most sanguine expectations. The sentiments 
 he advanced were just, generous and exalted; he soared above the petty quib- 
 bles which the opposite counsel urged, and triumphantly, in a manner and 
 eloquence peculiar to himself, avowed himself the friend of humanity, and 
 boldly, nobly and independently stood up for the rights of those who had 
 waded through seas of oppression and floods of injustice and had sought a 
 shelter in the state of Illinois. It was an effort worthy of a high-minded and 
 honorable gentleman, such as we have ever considered him to be since we have 
 had the pleasure of his acquaintance. Soon after we came out of Missouri he 
 sympathized with us in our afflictions, and we were indeed rejoiced to know 
 that he yet maintains the same principles of benevolence. His was not an 
 effort of a lawyer anxious to earn his fee, but the pure and patriotic feeling 
 of Christian benevolence and a sense of justice and of right. 
 
 While he was answering the monstrous and ridiculous arguments urged 
 by the opposing counsel, that Joseph Smith might go to Missouri and have 
 his trial, he stated the circumstances of our being driven from that state, and 
 feeling by and emphatically pointed out the impossibility of our obtaining jus- 
 tice there. There we were forbidden to enter in consequence of the order of the 
 Executive, and that injustice and cruelties of the most barbarous and atrocious 
 character had been practiced upon us, until the streams of Missouri had run 
 with blood, and that he had seen women and children barefoot and houseless, 
 crossing the Mississippi to seek refuge from ruthless mobs. He concluded his 
 remarks by saying that to tell us to go to Missouri for trial was adding insult 
 to injury, and then said : 
 
 "Great God! have I not seen it? Yes, my eyes have beheld the blood- 
 stained traces of innocent women and children, in the drear winter, who 
 have traveled hundreds of miles barefoot, through frost and snow, to seek 
 a refuge from their savage pursuers. 'Twas a scene of horror sufficient to 
 enlist sympathy from an adamantine heart. And shall this unfortunate 
 man, whom their fury has seen proper to select for sacrifice, be driven into 
 such a savage band, and none dare to enlist in the cause of justice? If there 
 was no other voice under heaven ever to be heard in this cause, gladly would 
 I stand alone and proudly spend my latest breath in defense of an oppressed 
 American citizen." The Etders j ourna l, pp. 267-68. 
 
 EARLY CHURCH HISTORY FOREVER UNTOLD 
 
 By Benj. F. Johnson 
 
 Your invitation through a late issue to the "Old veterans of 
 the Nauvoo exodus," to give items from their experience relating 
 to that period, almost prompts a smile. For to those whose broader 
 experience takes in from before the settlement at Kirtland and 
 succeeding vicissitudes of the Church, the Nauvoo experience ap- 
 pears but modern. Who has yet written in detail the circumstances 
 of poverty and persecution in which the Temple at Kirtland was 
 
54 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 built? that attended the gathering up of Zion's camp, with all of 
 its experience in going and returning from Missouri? that grew 
 out of the Kirtland bank? the great property boom and financial 
 crisis of 1837? the apostasy at Kirtland and the persecution of the 
 Prophet by his friends? his flight to Missouri and the struggles of 
 the poor left behind? Who has written the history of the "poor 
 camp"? 
 
 The first large emigration company of the Saints, consisting 
 of some seventy wagons, was organized and led by Joseph Young, 
 E. Smith, Henry Herriman, Jonathan Dunham, Jonathan Hale and 
 others. In great poverty it started from Kirtland on July 4, 1837, 
 and arrived at Far West on October 20, just in time to get every 
 experience of mob violence and exposure through the ensuing 
 winter. While Joseph Young and others were stopping at Haun's 
 Mill they barely escaped the massacre there. Where is published 
 the appalling condition of the Saints at Adam-ondi-Ahman, driven 
 in from the surrounding country and in the midst of deep snows, 
 without shelter for the aged, the feeble or the sick, when infants 
 were born to a manger of snow and starvation was near to all; 
 followed by the expulsion and gathering again at the "Old Com- 
 merce grave yard," afterwards Nauvoo? In 1839 every house was 
 a hospital, but without nurse or attendant for the sick, for at this 
 time there were hardly well ones enough to bury the dead. This 
 experience with the arrival of the Prophet and others from Missouri 
 prisons, with the building of another Temple under persecution 
 and poverty, the martyrdom, etc., was all prior to our exodus from 
 Nauvoo, and much of this still remains unpublished, if written. 
 
 Having since 1831 been near the front in each evolution of the 
 Church, you will pardon that "smile" ; for to me the butt end of our 
 experience appears prior to our expulsion from Nauvoo, in which, 
 as in the others, I was near to the front. After the martyrdom of 
 the Prophet, having been for years associated with him in business, 
 I was called by President Young to occupy and keep open the 
 Nauvoo mansion, vacated by his death, and, having Sheriff Backen- 
 stos as boarder and all outside officers and strangers to entertain, 
 I had excellent opportunity to learn much from the outside that 
 interested us as a people. When it was decided or agreed that as a 
 people we should leave Nauvoo, with others I was appointed to 
 organize a company of fifty and to take measures preparatory to 
 emigration. To this end we started the making of wagons, occupy- 
 ing as we had need the divisions in the basement story of a large 
 brick barn belonging to the mansion. After the killing of Frank 
 Worill by Sheriff Backenstos and posse, the hatred and fury of our 
 enemies generally increased. A report became current abroad that 
 many anti-Mormons were being murdered in Nauvoo, and the 
 Nauvoo mansion was cited as the probable place for great crimes. 
 To allay the excitement a troop of soldiers was by order of the 
 governor sent to investigate and to examine the premises for 
 bodies said to be secreted about the barn. They came and made a 
 formal examination after which they appeared satisfied and quietly 
 left. But the end was not yet, for the rumor continued as a number 
 of our mechanics were seen about the basement of the barn, creating 
 
PERSECUTIONS ENDURED BY PROPHET AND SAINTS 55 
 
 renewed suspicion. Such was the condition when President Young 
 called for those ready to commence crossing the river, for which 
 I was doing all possible to prepare. I am not certain of the date, 
 but I think it was the sixth of February that private word was 
 brought me in the evening that a squad of soldiers would be in the 
 city before morning with an order for my arrest. There was no 
 time to prepare. I must go at once. So with two of my family, 
 leaving my wife and children in a skiff at midnight, in a fearful 
 storm, we crossed the river which the day following was closed up 
 with ice. A waiting vehicle took us to camp on Sugar Creek, where 
 on arrival we were without shelter from the storm or supplies for 
 our comfort. But we were at least among friends. 
 
 Millennial Star, 56:150-151. 
 
 THE PROPHET JOSEPH WITH COMPANIONS IN 
 A MISSOURI DUNGEON 
 
 In one of those tedious nights we had lain as if in sleep till the 
 hour of midnight had passed, and our ears and hearts had been 
 pained, while we had listened for hours to the obscene jests, the 
 horrid oaths, the dreadful blasphemies and filthy language of our 
 guards, Colonel Price at their head, as they recounted to each 
 other their deeds of rapine, murder, robbery, etc., which they had 
 committed among the "Mormons" while at Far West and vicinity. 
 They even boasted of defiling by force wives, daughters and virgins, 
 and of shooting or dashing out the brains of men, women and 
 children. 
 
 I had listened till I became so disgusted, shocked, horrified, 
 and so filled with the spirit of indignant justice that I could 
 scarcely refrain from rising upon my feet and rebuking the guards ; 
 but had said nothing to Joseph, or any one else, although I lay next 
 to him and knew he was awake. On a sudden he arose to his feet, 
 and spoke in a voice of thunder, or as the roaring lion, uttering, as 
 near as I can recollect, the following words : 
 
 "Silence, ye fiends of the infernal pit. In the name of Jesus 
 Christ I rebuke you, and command you to be still; I will not live 
 another minute and hear such language. Cease such talk, or you 
 or I die this instant !" 
 
 He ceased to speak. He stood erect in terrible majesty. Chained 
 and without a weapon ; calm, unruffled and dignified as an angel, he 
 looked upon the quailing guards, whose weapons were lowered or 
 dropped to the ground; whose knees smote together, and who, 
 shrinking into a corner, or crouching at his feet, begged his pardon, 
 and remained quiet till a change of guards. 
 
 I have seen the ministers of justice, clothed in magisterial 
 robes, and criminals arraigned before them, while life was sus- 
 pended on a breath, in the Courts of England ; I have witnessed a 
 Congress in solemn session to give laws to nations; I have tried 
 to conceive of kings, of royal courts, of thrones and crowns ; and of 
 emperors assembled to decide the fate of kingdoms ; but dignity 
 and majesty have I seen but once, as it stood in chains, at midnight, 
 in a dungeon in an obscure village of Missouri. 
 
 Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt, pp. 228-230. 
 
56 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 CHRISTIAN MOBOCRACY AS DESCRIBED BY 
 ONE WHO EXPERIENCED IT 
 
 By Cordelia Smith Reeder Ellingford 
 
 Through the violent persecutions of the Saints, Willard G. 
 Smith's parents were obliged to sell their home and all other posses- 
 sions, saving a meager outfit with which they started for Missouri 
 in the spring of 1838. Willard, though a boy, was old enough to 
 sense and fully realize these persecutions, and the dangers with 
 which they were menaced all the way, on that terrible journey, 
 every mile full of horror and uncertain dread. Often they were 
 warned by complete strangers to travel other roads as mobs were 
 congregated to kill them. They would thus be forced to travel 
 unbeaten trails at night with the stars as guides. They were 
 obliged to camp occasionally and get a few days work to replenish 
 their scant provisions. 
 
 They left Ohio in April and reached Missouri in October. On 
 the 23rd of October they were stopped by an armed mob. All lire- 
 arms and ammunition were taken from them; they were taken 
 back five miles, placed under guard, and detained for three days 
 with no consideration and little to eat, constantly threatened with 
 complete annihilation. 
 
 On the morning of October 30th they arrived at a little place 
 called Haun's Mill, a small settlement on Shoal Creek, composed of 
 Latter-day Saints. They received a cordial, hearty welcome. Father 
 said the people had bees and had just taken out their honey, which 
 was in pans and buckets. They were told, "Help yourselves; eat 
 all you want." 
 
 They passed a few hours in this friendly atmosphere before 
 they noticed a sort of suppressed anxiety among the people. The 
 men all gathered in groups and seemed to be discussing some vital 
 problem. Grandfather with his three little boys, Willard, Alma 
 and Sardis, were standing at a brush fire heating a wagon tire to 
 re-set. Grandmother was busy with the usual work of a Pioneer 
 mother and traveler. I will try to give you the story of the subse- 
 quent events in fathers' own graphic words : 
 
 "Myself and two little brothers were with father when, with- 
 out warning a large body of mounted men, blackened and painted 
 like Indians, rode up yelling, and commenced shooting at the crowd. 
 The men at the shop called for quarter; to this the mob paid no 
 attention. The men then called for the women and children to run 
 for their lives. 
 
 "We were surrounded on three sides by the mob; the old mill 
 and mill pond were on the other. The men ran for the shop, taking 
 the little boys with them. My two little brothers ran in with father. 
 I followed but when I started to enter the shop my arms flew up 
 and braced themselves against each side of the door, preventing 
 my entrance. In my frenzy of fear I again tried to enter the shop, 
 and again my arms were braced to prevent going in. After the 
 third futile attempt, I ran around the corner of the shop and 
 crawled into a pile of lumber, hiding as best I could. I had been 
 
PERSECUTIONS ENDURED BY PROPHET AND SAINTS 57 
 
 there but a few seconds when the mob began shooting at me and 
 splinters flew all about me. I crawled out and ran into an empty 
 house on the slope near the pond. I had only been there a few 
 minutes when I heard a suppressed groan. I listened again and 
 then I saw a board over a potato cellar move very slightly. I raised 
 the boards and there saw an old Revolutionary soldier by the name 
 of Thomas McBride, who had been wounded before the women had 
 fled and they had hidden him in this pit. Father McBride asked to 
 be helped out and begged for water. I went with a cup to the pond, 
 or mill race, for the water. As I stooped to fill the cup I was 
 deliberately fired upon, the bullets spattering like hail in the water. 
 I escaped without a scratch. I gave the suffering patriot a drink 
 and pleaded with him to remain in the pit, telling him the mob 
 would kill him if they found him. He replied, 'Help me out; I am 
 dying in here/ This I did. The mob found him and as he raised 
 his aged hands in supplication, they were cut and hacked, the 
 fingers split down with an old dull corn cutter. By the time the 
 old gentleman was made as comfortable as possible, the bullets 
 were flying thick around us. I decided I must seek safety else- 
 where. I ran out of this house into another one close by. Here I 
 heard sobs and whispered comfortings which seemed to come from 
 the corner where the bedstead stood. I went and lifted up the bed 
 valence and crouched way back were six little girls. The mob saw 
 me go in there and soon the splinters and bullets were flying around 
 us. I said, 'Come, we must get out of here or we will all be killed.' 
 So we left and ran toward the mill dam, finally reaching the mill 
 race which we crossed on a board. The mob fired at us as we went 
 up the creek bank on the other side. The bullets spattered again in 
 the water and cut down the brush on all sides of us; but not one 
 of us was grazed by a bullet, although several passed through the 
 clothing of the children. 
 
 "Two of these little girls I afterwards knew. They were the 
 daughters of Brother Champlain, the man who was knocked down 
 in the shop, and was thought to be dead, thus hearing all the con- 
 troversies of the mob when they entered the shop to finish their 
 fiendish work. 
 
 "After our race for life, the little girls scurried off like prairie 
 chickens into the brush and tall corn. I, knowing father and my 
 little brothers were in the shop and the mob were still firing at 
 them, took shelter behind a large tree, where I could be pretty safe 
 and still watch the mob. This I did until they ceased firing, when 
 they dismounted and went into the shop where they finished their 
 fiendish work by killing all who were not dead. From here they 
 went into all the cabins and tents and destroyed all their groceries 
 and furnishings. After taking the horses and belongings of their 
 victims, they rode off, howling like Indians. 
 
 "As soon as I was sure they had gone, I started for the shop. 
 I was the first person to enter this holocaust (wholesale destruction 
 by fire and sword), stepping over the dead body of my father in 
 doing so. I looked around and found my brother, Sardis, dead, 
 with the top of his head shot away; and my little brother, Alma, 
 almost lifeless, lying among a pile of dead where he had been 
 
58 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 thrown by the mob, who evidently thought him dead. I picked 
 Alma up from the dirt and was carrying him from the shop when 
 I met my mother, who screamed and said, 'Oh ! They have killed my 
 little Alma !' I said, 'Alma is alive but they have killed father and 
 Sardis.' I begged mother not to go in but to help me with Alma. 
 Our tent had been devastated by the mob, even the straw tick cut 
 open and straw scattered about, taking the tick with them. Mother 
 leveled the straw, laid some clothes over it and on this awful bed 
 we placed Alma, and cut his pants off. We could then see the ex- 
 tent of his injury. The entire ball and socket joint of the left hip 
 was entirely shot away, leaving the bones three or four inches 
 apart. It was a sickening sight, one I shall never forget. Mother 
 was full of divine, trusting faith, a most marvelous, wonderful 
 woman. As soon as Alma could talk, mother asked him if he knew 
 who made him. He said, 'Yes, mother, God did/ She then told 
 him that the wicked mob had shot his hip away and asked, 'Do 
 you think God can make a new one?' Alma replied, 'Yes, I know He 
 can/ Mother then said, 'All right, let's pray to the Lord and ask 
 Him to do so.' So we all gathered around him on his bed of straw 
 and mother prayed, dedicating him to the Lord, asking God to 
 spare his life if He could make him strong and well but to take him 
 to Himself if this were impossible. In her terrible excitement and 
 sorrow, her only help seemed her Heavenly Father. So she prayed 
 for guidance, pleading for help in this dire extremity. By inspira- 
 tion her prayers were answered and she knew what to do. She 
 placed little Alma in a comfortable position on his stomach, telling 
 him, 'The Lord has made it known to me that He will make you 
 well, but you must lie on your stomach for a few weeks/ 
 
 "Mother was inspired to take the white ashes from the camp- 
 fire, place them in water to make a weak lye, with which she washed 
 the wound; all the crushed bone, mangled flesh and blood were 
 thus washed away, leaving the wound clean and almost white like 
 chicken breast. Then she was prompted how to make a poultice 
 for the wound. Mother asked me if I knew where I could get some 
 Slippery Elm tree roots. I said I knew where there was such a tree. 
 She gave me a lighted torch of shag bark hickory with which to 
 find my way." 
 
 I remember asking my father, "Weren't you afraid when you 
 went off alone in the dark?" "Of course I was but mother told me 
 the Lord would protect me and I believed her. I took the torch and 
 ax and soon got the roots from which mother made a poultice, 
 with which she filled the wound. As often as the poultice turned 
 dark it was removed and the wound washed and refilled." 
 
 "This is not intended as a history of those terrible days. I will 
 just say the Lord fulfilled His promise to the faithful in this case. 
 The prayers of implicit, trusting faith were answered. A new hip 
 gradually replaced the one that was shot away. Alma was fully 
 restored to health, walked without a limp, and was a dancing master 
 in his young days. He devoted years of his life to missionary work, 
 was a man of faith, full of integrity, beloved by all who knew him." 
 
 When a girl of 18 years, I visited with my father at the home 
 of my grandmother. On our last evening with her, she gathered 
 
PERSECUTIONS ENDURED BY PROPHET AND SAINTS 59 
 
 her children and grandchildren about her and again related inci- 
 dents connected with her wonderful life. Once more we heard the 
 story of their combined sufferings at Haun's Mill, and of the Divine 
 help and support received during their awful experience. As a 
 fitting climax, grandmother said, "Alma, for the benefit of these 
 children, that it may be a living, burning testimony of God's power, 
 will you let them see your hip?" I shall never forget the electrical 
 thrill of conviction that ran like fire through my entire system as 
 I gazed upon the handiwork of God. A broad, thick, strong ligament 
 or muscle had united the trunk of the body with the limb, consti- 
 tuting a joint or the necessary equivalent for perfect free use of 
 the body. 
 
 The day after the massacre at Haun's Mill, father helped his 
 mother and others bury the dead from the shop. An old dry well 
 was found and into this the dead were lowered, covered with straw, 
 filled with diru and debris, and covered with rock and brush. Their 
 harassments were pitiful; their suffering beyond description. My 
 father was the only help during these terrible weeks, every day 
 finding renewed persecution. After Alma improved so they could 
 think of trying to leave the state, great difficulties presented them- 
 selves. They were alone, their team, wagon, and all equipment 
 stolen. Grandmother visited Captain Cumstock, leader of the mob, 
 and here she found one horse but Captain Cumstock told her she 
 could have it by paying five dollars for its keep. She walked out, 
 took off her apron, tied it around her horse and led him off with 
 the men looking at her. They never objected. She gathered a 
 meager outfit and was soon on the way to Quincy, Illinois. They 
 were ill prepared for this trip. Grandmother, in her journal, said, 
 "I started the 1st of February for the state of Illinois, without 
 friends or money. Mobbed all the way. I drove my own team and 
 slept out of doors. I had four small children. We suffered much 
 with hunger, cold and fatigue. For what? For our religion. Where, 
 in a boasted land of liberty, 'Deny your faith or die' was the cry." 
 
 Grandmother, with her little family, finally reached Quincy, 
 Illinois, where they suffered all the trials, persecutions, and wander- 
 ings of the Saints. Here grandmother married again, a man having 
 the same name, Warren Smith, and also following the same business 
 as my grandfather. From here they went with the Latter-day Saints 
 to Nauvoo, where father seemed to enjoy life. He joined the 
 martial band, played the kettledrum in Nauvoo Legion, and entered 
 fully into the activities of the growing community. His associations 
 were always dear to him. If ever a man loved another, my father 
 loved the Prophet Joseph Smith. He loved to talk of him, would 
 relate little incidents of kindness and consideration shown him by 
 the Prophet, which meant so much to a boy. 
 
 Father's school was situated near the Nauvoo Mansion and 
 was taught by one of the Prophet's sisters. Here he used to play 
 with young Joseph, Jr., and his brother, David. His home was 
 quite a distance from school and father used to bring his lunch. 
 One time the Prophet, passing at noon and seeing father eating, 
 stopped and said : "Willard, I don't want you to bring your lunch 
 from home any more. You come to my home every day and eat 
 
60 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 with my boys." Father told of occasions when the Prophet would 
 place his arms affectionately about him and drawing him close 
 would give him loving advice and counsel. Father told our family 
 of the Prophet's love for boys, his interest in their sports and 
 activities, how he would take off his coat and join the boys in a 
 game of ball, or other sports — all of which made him become 
 almost revered by the boys. Father worked on the Nauvoo Temple 
 as stone cutter and glazier, assisted in making the oxen on which 
 rested the baptismal font, and when it was completed was one of 
 the first to receive his blessings therein. Of the awful martyrdom 
 of the Prophet and his brother, Hyrum, father couldn't talk with- 
 out tears filling his eyes and choking his speech. Father was em- 
 ployed at the livery stable where the team of horses was stabled 
 which carried visitors to and from Carthage jail. The regular 
 driver being ill, father was asked to drive the very group to the 
 jail which killed the Prophet and his brother, Hyrum. He heard 
 their vile blasphemous boastings of their intended deed and was 
 utterly helpless. After the murder, father marched with muffled 
 drum at the head of those who brought their bodies back to Nauvoo. 
 
 His grief at having to leave beautiful Nauvoo and all earthly 
 possessions was keen, since love of home and family was strong 
 with him. He left Nauvoo, driving a team for Beeson Lewis, later 
 transferred to President Young's Company of Advance Pioneers. 
 He was in this company when the call came for five hundred men 
 to form a company of infantry for the Mexican War. After a de- 
 cision had been reached by those directly concerned, President 
 Young stepped upon a wagon tongue, calling out: "Is there a 
 drummer boy present?" My father stepped forward, saying, "Yes, 
 sir, I am one." President Young replied, "All right, Willard, you 
 drum for recruits." Which father did, thus becoming virtually the 
 first volunteer in this memorable body of valiant men, who made 
 one of the most hazardous, heroic marches recorded in modern 
 history. 
 
 The trials of the Mormon Battalion have been graphically 
 recorded and described in a general way by different historians, 
 but no one can describe their acute sufferings on this uncharted, 
 perilous march over hot, burning sand, under scorching sun, with 
 short rations and little water. Father told of one particular in- 
 stance, after a two days' march, with very little water to start with, 
 the last twenty-four hours entirely without. With their tongues 
 swollen out of their mouths, they were forced to march along or be 
 left by the wayside. With many loitering on the way, unable to 
 keep up, the Battalion came to a "buffalo wallow," a deep depression 
 or sort of springy place where water had drained and here the 
 buffalo had wallowed and their deep tracks were full of dirty, 
 stagnant water, full of animal life and all kinds of filth, but it was 
 wet, and hailed by the boys with delight. They spread their soiled 
 handkerchiefs over these depressions and sucked the moisture 
 through them. Father said the condition of their tongues was such 
 that the sense of taste was gone. He also said he considered it 
 providential that relief came to them in small quantities for had 
 they come to a running stream or spring, they would have injured, 
 
PERSECUTIONS ENDURED BY PROPHET AND SAINTS 61 
 
 if not killed themselves by drinking too much. They suffered for 
 food on long forced marches. One day father and his companion 
 saw a dead bird under a desert bush. After they camped at night, 
 they quietly left camp, retraced their route, found the bird, which 
 proved to be a crow. In their starving condition this, though not 
 considered a choice morsel, was cooked and thoroughly enjoyed. 
 
 The Battalion finally reached San Diego, where they had an 
 opportunity to rest, with plenty of food. From here they made a 
 forced march to Santa Ana, where they fully expected to have an 
 engagement with the enemy. Again, those seeking promotion and 
 notoriety were disappointed. When the Battalion arrived, the 
 enemy had all fled to the mountains. From here they went to 
 Los Angeles. While the Company were standing at ease in the 
 street, there came a ragged, dejected man, in clothes much too 
 small for him. He was dirty, a regular derelict vagabond. He 
 accosted Captain Hancock, saying, "Gentlemen, I am glad to see 
 you. I have been waiting here days for you, for I heard there 
 was a company of Mormons coming.' , "Well," said Brother Hancock, 
 "what can we do for you?" The man replied, "I hoped there would 
 be some one in the company who had friends killed in the Haun's 
 Mill massacre, who would kill me, because I was there. I was the 
 man who shot that little boy's brains out in the blacksmith shop. 
 His cries and pitiful pleadings have never been from before my 
 eyes and I want to die." Brother Hancock took him to father, where 
 he repeated his story. He said, "I shot that boy with a double- 
 barreled shotgun. His pleadings still ring in my ears. I hope you 
 will grant my request." He wore an old army shirt, buttoned over 
 shoulder and down the right side. Tearing this open, he threw 
 himself down on his knees, saying, "I want to die; I want you to 
 kill me." My father stepped back from him, saying, "There is a 
 just God in heaven who will avenge that crime. I will not stain 
 my hands with your blood." This man loitered around camp for 
 days until the officers had time taken away.* 
 
 *In this connection the notes made by Elder Seymour B. Young are very 
 informative: "On Saturday afternoon in company with Elder Winegar we 
 boarded the Burlington train for the town of Breckenridge, 85 miles east of 
 Kansas City, and arrived at this old town about 8 p.m. Their county fair 
 had been running for three days and would close this evening. About the 
 center of the small park in which the fair was located was -a mill stone, said 
 to have been taken from Mr. Haun's mill. This mill was owned and in run- 
 ning order on Shoal Creek at the time of the massacre of the Saints on Sep- 
 tember 6, 1838, where eighteen of the brethren were shot down and killed 
 and three others escaped who had been dangerously wounded. About 6 o'clock 
 in the evening, on the date above registered, 200 armed men on horseback 
 made their appearance and at once opened fire, without warning, upon the 
 little company of Mormon families encamped near Mr. Haun's mill and on 
 his premises. This band of miscreants shot down every man that they could 
 see moving in the vicinity of the camp of Latter-day Saints. The brethren 
 ran in every direction to keep from being murdered, and some twelve or 
 thirteen of them, with two little boys, took shelter in the blacksmith shop, 
 a small log building which Warren Smith, one of the brethren, had rented 
 of Mr. Haun and in which he had engaged in shoeing the horses and fixing 
 the wagons of the immigrating saints. When these twelve brethren and two 
 little boys took shelter in the blacksmith shop, the mob coolly and deliber- 
 ately surrounded the same and, placing the muzzles of their guns through 
 the openings between the logs, shot every one of the occupants and then 
 
62 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 TYPICAL MISSOURI JUSTICE 
 
 (A short account of an affray that took place between the Latter-day 
 Saints and a portion of the people of Daviess County, Mo., at an election 
 held in Gallatin Aug. 6, 1838.) 
 
 By John L. Butler 
 
 Polls opened with the usual ceremonies. There were present 
 about forty or fifty Missourians and eight or ten of the saints (viz.) 
 Hyrum Nelson and Brother Riley Stewart, Jackson Stewart, Moses 
 Daly, Washington Voris, Father Harvey Olmstead, Samuel Brown 
 and Perry Durphy. There was a rush to the polls on the part of the 
 Missourians until they were principally through with the voting 
 when William Peniston, one of the candidates stood upon the head 
 of a whiskey barrel and made a very inflammatory speech against 
 the saints, stating that he had headed a company to order the 
 Mormons off their farms and possessions, stating at the same 
 time that he did not consider the Mormons had any more right to 
 vote than the niggers. When he was through he called on all hands 
 to drink, which they did, for whiskey passed free and they drank 
 as freely. I, at the time retired a little back from the crowd 
 rather behind the little grocery near by where they were voting. 
 I heard the word G — damn 'em ; kill 'em G — Damn 'em. From the 
 noise and bustle I knew there was fighting. I felt at first not to go 
 in amongst them, for I did not want to have any trouble, but wished 
 to vote and thought after voting I would start home immediately. 
 I did not like the spirit manifested. It then came to my mind that 
 they might be fighting the brethren. As I went over I saw they had 
 attacked the brethren with sticks, clapboards (or shakes) and 
 anything they could use to fight with. They were all in a muss 
 together, everyone of the Missourians trying to get a lick at a 
 Mormon. It made me feel indignant to see from four to a dozen 
 mobbers on a man and all damning 'em and G — damning the 
 "Mormons." I saw they were all well armed with clubs or some 
 other weapon to fight with. I turned around and ran a few steps 
 to get a stick. I soon found one suitable though rather large. It 
 
 entered the shop and proceeded to examine the bodies by punching them with 
 their guns to see if life remained in any of them. 
 
 The two little boys, after their father fell near the bellows of the shop, 
 crawled over behind his body to hide from the butchers. The mob also poked 
 these two little fellows with their guns and when they cried out, they pro- 
 ceeded to finish them as they thought. The one, the younger of the two, 
 Sardis Smith, was heard to say: "Please, mister, don't shoot me, I am only 
 a little boy." But the villain replied, "Nits make lice," and placing his gun 
 against the little boy's ear fired and blew the top of his head off. His older 
 brother, Alma Smith, thirteen years of age, also received a very dangerous 
 wound in the region of the right hip, from which he almost bled to death 
 before he was rescued by his angel mother, whose husband had been murdered 
 and also her little son, Sardis — this fearful and horrible assassination per- 
 petrated on an innocent and defenseless band of immigrants because they 
 claimed to be Latter-day Saints. 
 
 Over the mill stone at the fairgrounds in Breckenridge was a placard 
 reading as follows: "This stone was taken from the battleground where 
 eighteen Mormons were killed and buried in a well near Haun's Mill on Shoal 
 Creek, September 6, 1838." 
 
PERSECUTIONS ENDURED BY PROPHET AND SAINTS 63 
 
 was a piece of the heart of an oak which I thought I could handle 
 with ease and convenience. Returning to the crowd many thoughts 
 ran through my mind. First, I remembered that I never in my 
 life struck a man in anger. I had always lived in peace with all 
 men. The stick I had to fight with was so large and heavy that I 
 could sink it into every man's head that I might chance to strike. 
 I did not want to kill anyone, but merely to protect my brethren. 
 I went in with the determination to rescue my brethren from such 
 miserable curs at all hazards. Thinking when hefting my stick 
 that I must temper my lick just so as not to kill. Furthermore, a 
 power rested upon me such as I never felt before. When I got in 
 reach of them I commenced to call out loud for peace and at the 
 same time making my stick move to my own utter astonishment 
 tapping them as I thought lightly, but they fell as dead men, their 
 heads often striking the ground first. I took great care to strike 
 none except those who were fighting the brethren. When I first 
 commenced there were some six or eight men on old Mr. Durphy 
 and a few steps further ten or a dozen men on Brother Olmstead 
 and Brother Nelson. But they were so thick around them that they 
 could not do execution to advantage. I continued to knock down 
 every man I could reach that was lifting a stick against the 
 brethren. After getting through and seeing the brethren on their 
 feet I looked and saw some of the men lying on the ground as 
 though they were dead. Some of them were being held up by their 
 friends; some were standing leaning against the little grocery. 
 While gazing on the scene Brother Riley Stewart had in his hand 
 (what the backwoodsman calls a knee) to place between weight 
 poles on log cabins — a piece of timber about two and a half feet 
 long, small at one end, and struck Dick Welding an overhand blow 
 on the head cutting the side of his head three or four inches in 
 length. It looked like he was certainly killed. I told Stewart he 
 had better leave for he had killed that man. He started to run and 
 got off about twenty or twenty-five paces when about ten or a 
 dozen men took after him throwing sticks and stones at him and 
 anything they could get, swearing they would kill him. I saw they 
 would overpower him and I called for him to come back for we 
 could do better business when together. He took a circuitous route 
 to keep from meeting those pursuing him. At the crisis one of the 
 mob drew a glittering dirk with blade about six inches long, waving 
 it in the air and at the same time swearing it should drink Stewart's 
 heart's blood. He started to meet Stewart as he was returning 
 back to the crowd. As he was several steps ahead of me I sprang 
 with all the power that was in me to overtake him before he met 
 Stewart. Just as he and Stewart met he made a blow at his neck 
 or breast, but as Stewart was passing in a run the dirk passed over 
 his left shoulder close by his neck and struck in his right shoulder 
 blade which bent the point of it around as much as an inch. Just 
 as he made his lick I reached forward as far as I could and hit him 
 on the side of the head and fetched him helpless to the ground. At 
 the same instant I received a blow from one behind me with the 
 butt end of a loaded horsewhip which took me right between the 
 shoulders. I felt the jar only in my breast and had I not been 
 
64 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 stooping forward as I was at the time I made my blow, he would 
 have taken me on the head no doubt and perhaps fetched me down. 
 
 While Stewart was running off, James Welding, Dick's brother 
 came along and saw his brother lying in his gore. He bawled and 
 swore that they had killed Dick. He picked up a stone swearing he 
 would kill every Mormon in Daviess County before Saturday night. 
 Just as the word came out of his mouth, Washington Voris, stand- 
 ing near him, hit him square in the mouth with a stone that would 
 weigh about two pounds I think and straightened him out on the 
 ground. As he arose with his mouth badly cut and bleeding he put 
 his hand on his face and began to cry saying that he never saw 
 people hit as hard as the Mormons. They had killed Dick and 
 mashed his mouth, and off he ran bellowing in the brush. 
 
 I will mention another occurrance which took place. Brother 
 Olmstead previous to the affray had purchased half a dozen earthen 
 bowls and as many teacups and saucers which he had tied up in 
 a new cotton handkerchief and swung to his wrist. One of the 
 mob struck at him when he raised his arm and the blow struck 
 the dishes and broke them. He then commenced using them over 
 their heads and when the fight was over I saw him empty out his 
 broken earthenware on the ground in pieces not larger than a 
 dollar. His handkerchief looked like it had been chewed by a cow. 
 I have thought ever since that time that they had fun picking the 
 pieces of earthenware from their heads, for they certainly were 
 pretty well filled. 
 
 The whole scene was soon over. I think it lasted about two 
 or three minutes from the first to the last blow. I have seen as 
 many as two hundred men at an election in old Kentucky fighting 
 each other for six or eight minutes with clubs, knives, brick bats, 
 etc., with about one tenth the execution. I believe there were as 
 many as thirty men with bloody heads and some of them badly 
 hurt. I knocked down about six or eight men myself. I never 
 struck a man the second time and while knocking them down I 
 really felt that they would sometime embrace the gospel. 
 
 I felt the spirit as above stated to rest upon me with power. 
 I felt like I was seven or eight feet high and my arms three or 
 four feet long, for certainly I ran faster than I ever did before 
 and could reach farther and hit a man and they could not reach me 
 to harm me. Col. Peniston who was the author of the scrape ran 
 up to the grocery on the hill. I looked out for him to get a clip at 
 him. 
 
 After the fight was over we gathered our men on some hewn 
 house logs and told the mob that we would fight them as long as 
 blood ran warm in our veins if they still persisted. But they begged 
 for peace after they saw their men lying around. They came to 
 me and wanted me to go and vote. I told them I would if they 
 would clear the road to the polls which they did immediately. But 
 I could see that if I went in the poll box they would be all around 
 me and thus take me prisoner for some of their men who would 
 die. I told them I was a law-abiding man and that I did not intend 
 to be tried by a mob. I then mounted a good horse and left. 
 
 Before the fighting began John L. Butler called the brethren 
 
PERSECUTIONS ENDURED BY PROPHET AND SAINTS 65 
 
 together and made a speech, saying: "We are American citizens; 
 our fathers fought for their liberty in the American Revolution 
 and we will maintain the same principles." 
 
 MASONS ALSO PERSECUTED 
 
 Elder Heber C. Kimball, who had been a Mason since 1823, 
 has said of the martyrdom : 
 
 Joseph and Hyrum Smith were Master Masons, yet they were 
 massacred through the instrumentality of some of the leading men 
 of that fraternity, and not one soul of them has ever stepped forth 
 to administer help to me or my brethren belonging to the Masonic 
 Institution, or to render us assistance, although bound under the 
 strongest obligations to be true and faithful to each other in every 
 case and under every circumstance, the commission of crime ex- 
 cepted. 
 
 Yes, Masons, it is said, were even among the mob that mur- 
 dered Joseph and Hyrum in Carthage Jail. Joseph, leaping the 
 fatal window, gave the masonic signal of distress. The answer 
 was the roar of his murderers' muskets and the deadly balls that 
 pierced his heart. 
 
 In 1878, Zina D. Huntington Young said of this theme, "I am 
 the daughter of a Master Mason; I am the widow of the Master 
 Mason who, when leaping from the window of Carthage jail, 
 pierced with bullets, made the Masonic sign of distress, but those 
 signs were not heeded except by the God of Heaven." 
 
 "They gave us a city charter," said Heber C. Kimball, "and 
 then took it from us again, and that too without any just cause. 
 They gave us a charter for a Masonic lodge, and then went to work 
 and killed some of the men to whom the charter was given." 
 
 When the enemy surrounded the jail, rushed up the stairway, 
 and killed Hyrum Smith, Joseph stood at the open window, his 
 martyr-cry being these words, "0 Lord My God!" This was not 
 the beginning of a prayer, because Joseph Smith did not pray in 
 that manner. This brave, young man who knew that death was 
 near, started to repeat the distress signal of the Masons, expecting 
 thereby to gain the protection its members are pledged to give a 
 brother in distress. 
 
 Mormonism and Masonry, pp. 16-17, by E. Cecil McGavin. 
 
 EARLY PERSECUTIONS OF THE PROPHET 
 
 By John Reid 
 
 I will return to the persecutions which followed General 
 Smith, when his cheeks blossomed with the beauty of youth, and 
 his eyes sparkled with innocence. Those bigots soon made up a 
 false accusation against him and had him arraigned before Joseph 
 Chamberlain, a justice of the peace, a man that was always ready 
 to deal justice to all, and a man of great discernment of mind. 
 The case came on about 10 o'clock a.m. I was called upon to 
 defend the prisoner. The prosecutors employed the best counsel 
 
66 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 they could get, and ransacked the town of Bainbridge and county 
 of Chenango for witnesses that would swear hard enough to convict 
 the prisoner; but they entirely failed. Yes, sir, let me say to you 
 that not one blemish nor spot teas found against his character, he 
 came from that trial, notiuithstanding the mighty efforts that were 
 made to convict him of crime by his vigilant persecutors, with his 
 character unstained by even the appearance of guilt. The trial 
 closed about 12 o'clock at night. After a few moments' deliberation, 
 the court pronounced the words "not guilty," and the prisoner was 
 discharged. But alas ! the devil, not satisfied with his defeat, stirred 
 up a man not unlike himself, who was more fit to dwell among the 
 fiends of hell than to belong to the human family, to go to Colesville 
 and get another writ, and take him to Broome county for another 
 trial. They were sure they could send that boy to hell, or to Texas, 
 they did not care which ; and in half an hour after he was discharged 
 by the court, he was arrested again, and on the way to Colesville 
 for another trial. I was again called upon by his friends to defend 
 him against his malignant persecutors, and clear him from the 
 false charges they had preferred against him. I made every rea- 
 sonable excuse I could, as I was nearly worn down through fatigue 
 and want of sleep ; as I had been engaged in lawsuits for two days, 
 and nearly the whole of two nights. But I saw the persecution was 
 great against him ; and here let me say, Mr. Chairman, singular as it 
 may seem, while Mr. Knight was pleading with me to go, a peculiar 
 impression or thought struck my mind, that I must go and defend 
 him, for he was the Lord's anointed. I did not know what it meant, 
 but thought I must go and clear the Lord's anointed. I said I would 
 go, and started with as much faith as the Apostles had when they 
 could remove mountains, accompanied by Father Knight, who was 
 like the old patriarchs that followed the ark of God to the city of 
 David. ***** The next morning about 10 o'clock the court was 
 organized. The prisoner was to be tried by three justices of the 
 peace, that his departure out of the county might be made sure. 
 Neither talents nor money were wanting to insure them success. 
 They employed the ablest lawyer in that county, and introduced 
 twenty or thirty witnesses before dark, but proved nothing. They 
 then sent out runners and ransacked the hills and vales, grog shops 
 and ditches, and gathered together a company that looked as if 
 they had come from hell and had been whipped by the soot boy 
 thereof; which they brought forward to testify one after another, 
 but with no better success than before, although they wrung and 
 twisted into every shape, in trying to tell something that would 
 criminate the prisoner. Nothing was proven against him whatever. 
 Having got through with the examination of their witnesses about 
 2 o'clock in the morning, the case was argued about two hours. 
 There was not one particle of testimony against the prisoner. No, 
 sir, he came out like the three children from the fiery furnace, with- 
 out the smell of fire upon his garments. The court deliberated upon 
 the case for half an hour with closed doors, and then we were called 
 in. The court arraigned the prisoner and said : "Mr. Smith, we have 
 had your case under consideration, examined the testimony and find 
 nothing to condemn you, and therefore you are discharged." They 
 
PERSECUTIONS ENDURED BY PROPHET AND SAINTS 67 
 
 then proceeded to reprimand him severely; not because anything 
 derogatory to his character in any shape had been proven against 
 him by the host of witnesses that had testified during the trial, but 
 merely to please those fiends in human shape who were engaged 
 in the unhallowed persecution of an innocent man, sheerly on ac- 
 count of his religious opinions. 
 
 After they had got through, I arose and said : 'This court puts 
 me in mind of a certain trial held before Felix of old, when the 
 enemies of Paul arraigned him before the venerable judge for some 
 alleged crime, and nothing was found in him worthy of death or of 
 bonds. Yet, to please the Jews, who were his accusers, he was left 
 bound contrary to law ; and this court has served Mr. Smith in the 
 same way, by their unlawful and uncalled for reprimand after his 
 discharge, to please his accusers." We got him away that night 
 from the midst of three hundred people without his receiving any 
 injury; but I am well aware that we were assisted by some higher 
 power than man; for to look back on the scene, I cannot tell how 
 we succeeded in getting him away. I take no glory to myself ; it was 
 the Lord's work and marvelous in our eyes. — Times and Seasons, 
 vol. v, pp. 549-552. 
 
 D.H.C. 1:93-96. 
 
CHAPTER 4 
 
 Persecution Led by Modern Preachers 
 
 MODERN MINISTERS A PERSECUTING CLASS 
 
 Whenever God has authorized his servants to deliver His 
 messages, the counterfeit have also existed, as in the days of Moses, 
 Elijah, the Apostles of old, and in our day. Christ said to the 
 Scribes and Pharisees, the very men who put him to death, "Ye 
 generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell. ,, 
 The Redeemer said to the Prophet Joseph Smith in our day, of these 
 modern Scribes and Pharisees, these modern priests of Baal : "Their 
 creeds were an abomination in His sight; their professors were all 
 corrupt ; they draw near to me with their lips but their hearts are 
 far from me; they teach for doctrine the commandments of men; 
 they have a form of godliness but they deny the power thereof ." 
 
 To summarize the part these modern priests have played in 
 this generation, the following is quoted from Elder B. H. Roberts' 
 reply to the Salt Lake City Ministerial Association : 
 
 "I have been meeting your class, gentlemen, for now thirty 
 years ; and have had controversies of various kinds with it during 
 that time, and I know you as a class quite thoroughly. I speak from 
 experience, not malice, and comparing you as a class with other 
 classes of men whom I have known, it is just a plain, solemn truth 
 that you are, as a class, narrow, bigoted, intolerant, petty; and I 
 say that in the very best of feeling." * * * * 
 
 "These gentlemen reviewers express two fears. One is that 
 they will be charged, because of issuing this review, with misrepre- 
 sentation. Well, I don't wonder at that, and I think we have proven 
 that you have misrepresented. But they also fear that we will 
 charge them with persecution. Gentlemen, we acquit you of the 
 intention of persecution. When the Revs. Phineas Ewing, Dixon, 
 Cavanaugh, Hunter, Bogart, Isaac McCoy, Riley, Pixley, Woods 
 and others carried on an agitation in Missouri against "Mormon- 
 ism" and the "Mormons" that resulted in burning hundreds of 
 our homes and driving our people— including women and children, 
 remember — to bivouac out in the wilderness at an inclement season 
 of the year ; when the mob incited by these reverends, your proto- 
 types, gentlemen, laid waste our fields and gardens, stripped our 
 people of their earthly possessions, keeping up that agitation until 
 twelve thousand or fifteen thousand people were driven from the 
 state of Missouri, dispossessed of several hundred thousand acres 
 of land — two hundred and fifty thousand acres, to be exact — which 
 they had entered, and rendered them homeless — we might call, we 
 do call, that persecution. When the Rev. Mr. Levi Williams led the 
 mob that shot to death Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum Smith 
 in Carthage prison, and when the Rev. Mr. Thomas S. Brockman 
 led the forces against Nauvoo, after the great body of the people 
 
PERSECUTIONS LED BY MODERN PREACHERS G9 
 
 had withdrawn from that city, and expelled the aged, the widow 
 and the fatherless, and laid waste the property of the people — we 
 think we are justified in calling that persecution, of which, right 
 reverend gentlemen were the chief instigators. And when in this 
 territory some years ago one wave of agitation followed another, 
 until a reign of terror was produced, and a regime was established 
 under which men guilty at most of a misdemeanor, could neverthe- 
 less be imprisoned for a term of years covering a lifetime, and fined 
 to the exhaustion of all they possessed, under the beautiful scheme 
 of segregating the offense into numerous counts in each indict- 
 ment; and when in that reign of terror women were compelled to 
 clasp their little ones to their breasts and go out among strangers, 
 exiled from their homes — we might be inclined to call that per- 
 secution. " 
 
 THE CAUSE OF PERSECUTION OF THE SAINTS 
 
 By Benjamin F. Johnson 
 
 And now your question as to the cause of the early persecu- 
 tions of the Saints. To answer this question, we should go back to 
 its inception to find the cause for the hate that is ever behind to 
 incite persecution. Between the present and former dispensations 
 there is a striking analogy. Jesus appeared to the learned, haughty, 
 dignified and opulent Jews as the "poor illiterate carpenters son 
 of Nazareth," a despised "Galilean," who claimed to be the son of 
 the Highest, the Great Jehovah, that "without" him there was 
 nothing made that was made, that he held "all power both in 
 Heaven and on Earth," that he could "destroy the temple and rear 
 it up in three days," etc., while the multitude turned from them 
 to follow the "lowly Nazarene," hence their envy and jealousy which 
 ripened into hate and in their nailing Him as a malefactor to the 
 cross; and just so has it been in our day. 
 
 Joseph Smith, of lowly birth, was a farm boy of common class, 
 poor, illiterate and without distinction other than being religiously 
 inclined; he attended revivals, was in the anxious circles honestly 
 seeking religion and to learn which was the right church; and 
 calling upon the Lord in simple faith that he might know. Both 
 the Father and the Son in a pillar of light descended, and in teach- 
 ing him commanded that "he join no religious sect, as their creeds 
 were all an abomination in His sight." 
 
 This blow, by an ignorant son of poverty at fourteen years of 
 age, in the face of all Christendom, was an insult to the dignity of 
 all priestly learning, greatness and wealth ; but with their millions 
 in Bible, missionary and other societies for converting the world, all 
 their greatness defied and denounced by an ignorant boy, their con- 
 tempt led to hatred and persecution. And when that boy became 
 a man, he claimed to have revelations, and that an angel had 
 delivered to him golden plates containing a history of a fallen 
 people, and that God, through him, was about to restore the 
 ancient gospel in its purity, which, if true, would blot out all their 
 greatness. Inspired by hate, they made lies their weapons with 
 which to fight the truth ; both of which are attributes of the devil. 
 
70 
 
 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 THE JOHNSON RESIDENCE 
 
 The old "Father Johnson Homestead" at Hiram, unaltered, but just as it 
 stood in 1830-31, when it was the home of the Johnson family, and some of its 
 rooms were occupied by the Prophet and his family. It was the right hand 
 upper room (east end) that was used by the Prophet Joseph as a translation 
 room, and where he, with Sidney Rigdon as scribe, revised the English trans- 
 lation of the Bible. 
 
 REAR OF JOHNSON RESIDENCE 
 
 The room shown in the rear of the Johnson residence (the one where the 
 door stands open) is tlvat occupied by the Prophet and his family in the win- 
 ter of 1832, and from which he was dragged at midnight March 25, 1832, by a 
 mob, cruelly beaten, tarred and feathered, and only saved from a still more 
 horrible violence by the mercy of God. The door immediately facing the read- 
 er is the one from which the Prophet was dragged. The day following (Sun- 
 day) he preached, scarified as he was, from the front steps of Father John- 
 son's residence to an immense congregation. 
 
PERSECUTIONS LED BY MODERN PREACHERS 71 
 
 whose servants they were, as "blind leaders of the blind." The 
 multitudes were blinded by the popular prejudice and cry of 
 "away with them''; and all going together to the pit; just as the 
 Master saw, and upon the cross "prayed His Father to forgive them 
 as they knew not what they did." Our Prophet Joseph, like the 
 Master, was held in contempt by learned priests, bigots and hypo- 
 crites, and like Him, was scorned, despised, and derided by the 
 rich; and by all Christendom was derided without cause, and 
 persecuted unto death by those who would not know him. 
 
 Excerpt from letter of Benjamin F. Johnson to George S. Gibbs. 
 
 JOSEPH SMITH IS TARRED AND FEATHERED 
 
 By John D. Barber 
 
 While on a mission in the Northern States, and laboring in 
 the city of Grand Rapids, Michigan, on March 24, 1902, I, in com- 
 pany with Lorenzo Sorenson of Smithfield, Utah, were tracting 
 from house to house and called at the home of a Mr. Silas Raymond 
 who was in possession of two relics in the shape of a tar bucket and 
 a dark lantern used the night of the horrible mobbing of the 
 Prophet Joseph which occurred on March 25, 1832. Mr. Raymond 
 answered the door and when we introduced ourselves as Mormon 
 missionaries, he uttered an oath "G — D — you Mormons, come in. 
 I want to show you something." He excused himself and returned 
 in a few minutes with a tar bucket which was made from a block 
 of wood 8 inches in diameter and 10 or 12 inches in height, chiseled 
 out to make a bucket, a hole bored through each side at the top 
 and a piece of rope knotted at each end to make the handle. It 
 was a very crude affair. It was covered with hard tar both inside 
 and out and had never been used for anything after the mobbing. 
 The lantern was called a dark lantern ; and was about the size of a 
 one gallon can. It had a pointed top on it to shed rain and a wire 
 handle attached, with a little door cut in the side, through which a 
 candle was put into the can and lighted. There were perforations — 
 diamondshape, heart shape and crescent shape, also decorations 
 were used to let the light flicker out. 
 
 Upon returning with these relics he uttered another oath: 
 ("There they are, G — d — you.") and placed them before us say- 
 ing: — "Pick 'em up; handle 'em; look 'em over," and stated that 
 they were used on the night of the mobbing of the Prophet Joseph 
 Smith at Hiram, Ohio, while at the home of Brother Johnson. 
 
 He stated that this bucket filled with liquid tar was poured 
 over the head of Joe Smith and he was rolled onto a feather tick 
 which had been ripped open and was rolled into the feathers. 
 
 Mr. Raymond stated that his father was one of the leaders 
 of the mob and that from the time of this mobbing something 
 seemed to have come upon his father that he was never well again ; 
 was finally confined to his bed where slow death came upon him, 
 mortification setting in at his toes and he died by inches as mor- 
 tification worked its way upward. Before dying he called his 
 family together and talked with them regarding the mobbing and 
 
72 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 their future course in life, stating that his days were numbered, 
 but he wanted to tell them that so far as he was concerned they 
 could please themselves which religious denomination they affiliated 
 themselves with, but for his part he was convinced that Joe Smith 
 was all that he ever claimed to be — a prophet of God. 
 
 After viewing these relics, and returning to our rooms, we 
 thought a great deal about them and wrote to President Joseph F. 
 Smith, President of the Church, asking if he thought such relics 
 would be genuine. We received an answer to our letter stating 
 that there was no question but what they were genuine and in- 
 structed us to buy the relics from Mr. Raymond if a reasonable 
 price could be agreed on, so that they could be put in the Church 
 museum. Mr. Raymond refused to sell them stating that they had 
 been handed down from his father's death to the oldest member of 
 the family and they were to be kept in the family as long as they 
 desired to have them. He said they were of no use to him, the 
 Church should have them but it was his father's request that they 
 should be kept in the family. 
 
 Two of this Mr. Raymond's aunts joined the Church and 
 moved West with the Saints. 
 
 Signed: John D. Barber 
 STATE OF UTAH ) co 
 
 COUNTY OF SUMMIT ] ss * 
 
 John D. Barber being duly sworn, deposes and says that the foregoing 
 statement is a true recital of events as they occurred and happened according 
 to his knowledge. 
 
 In witness whereof, he has set his hand and signature this 28th day of 
 September, 1948. CHAS. L. FROST 
 
 County Clerk in and for the 
 County of Summit, State of 
 Utah. 
 
 THE FATE OF OTHERS IN THIS AFFAIR 
 
 In connection with the above persecution, the following is 
 quoted from E. Cecil McGavin's book: Historical Background of 
 the Doctrine and Covenants, (p. 196). "Within a few years all 
 the men who took part in that raid had suffered a painful death. 
 Miles Norton who poisoned the Johnson watch dog was killed by a 
 ram in the barnyard, its spiral horn being thrust through Norton's 
 body. Warren Waste and Carnot Mason boasted of having bent 
 the Prophet's legs over his back, holding them in that position as 
 he lay on the ground face downward. Waste was later killed by 
 a falling log while he was building a house. Mason died from a 
 spinal affliction that was more painful than a Boston Crab. The 
 man who tried to pour the poison into his mouth was buried alive 
 while digging a well." 
 
 DEVILS INCARNATE LED BY SECTARIAN MINISTERS 
 
 (An account of the mobbing which took place [March 25th, 1832] 
 at Hiram, where Joseph lived, at the time, with "Father Johnson," 
 is thus related by Joseph) : 
 
 "On the 25th of March, the twins before mentioned, which 
 had been sick of the measels for some time, caused us to be broken 
 
PERSECUTIONS LED BY MODERN PREACHERS 73 
 
 of our rest in taking care of them, especially my wife. In the 
 evening I told her she had better retire to rest with one of the 
 children, and I would watch with the sickest child. In the night she 
 told me I had better lay down on the trundle bed, and I did so, and 
 was soon after awoke by her screaming murder! when I found 
 myself going out of the door, in the hands of about a dozen men ; 
 some of whose hands were in my hair, and some hold of my shirt, 
 drawers and limbs. The foot of the trundle bed was towards the 
 door, leaving only room enough for the door to swing. My wife 
 heard a gentle tapping on the windows, which she then took no 
 particular notice of, (but which was unquestionably designed for 
 ascertaining whether we were all asleep,) and soon after the mob 
 burst open the door and surrounded the bed in an instant, and, as 
 I said, the first I knew I was going out of the door in the hands of 
 an infuriated mob. I made a desperate struggle, as I was forced 
 out, to extricate myself, but only cleared one leg, with which I 
 made a pass at one man, and he fell on the door steps. I was im- 
 mediately confined again; and they swore by God, they would kill 
 me if I did not be still, which quieted me. As they passed around 
 the house with me, the fellow that I kicked came to me and thrust 
 his hand into my face, all covered with blood, (for I hit him on 
 the nose,) and with an exulting horse laugh, muttering 'he, hee, 
 G — d damn ye, I'll fix ye.' 
 
 "Then they seized me by the throat and held on until I lost 
 my breath. After I came to, as they passed along with me, about 
 thirty rods from the house, I saw Elder Rigdon stretched out on 
 the ground, whither they had dragged him by the heels. I sup- 
 posed he was dead. 
 
 "I began to plead with them, saying, 'you will have mercy, 
 and spare my life, I hope.' To which they replied, 'G — d damn ye, 
 call on yer God f er help, we'll show ye no mercy' ; and the people 
 began to show themselves in every direction ; one coming from the 
 orchard had a plank, and I expected they would kill me, and carry 
 me off on the plank. They then turned to the right, and went on 
 about thirty rods farther, about sixty rods from the house, and 
 thirty from where I saw Elder Rigdon, into the meadow, where 
 they stopped, and one said, 'Simonds, Simonds' (meaning, I sup- 
 pose, Simonds Rider,) 'pull up his drawers, pull up his drawers, 
 he will take cold. Another replied: 'aint ye going to kill 'im? aint 
 ye going to kill 'im?' when a group of mobbers collected a little 
 way off, and said: 'Simonds, Simonds, come here'; and Simonds 
 charged those who had hold of me to keep me from touching the 
 ground, (as they had done all the time) lest I should get a spring 
 upon them. They went and held a council, and as I could occasion- 
 ally overhear a word, I supposed it was to know whether it was 
 best to kill me. They returned after a while, when I learned that 
 they had concluded not to kill me, but pound and scratch me well, 
 tear off my shirt and drawers, and leave me naked. One cried, 
 'Simonds, Simonds, where' s the tar bucket?' 'I don't know,' an- 
 swered one, 'where 'tis; Eli's left it.' They ran back and fetched 
 the bucket of tar, when one exclaimed, 'G — d damn it, let us tar 
 up his mouth ;' and they tried to force the tar-paddle in my mouth. 
 
74 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 I twisted my head around, so that they could not; and they cried 
 out, *G — d damn ye, hold up yer head, and let us give ye some tar.' 
 They then tried to force a vial into my mouth, and I broke it in my 
 teeth. All my clothes were torn off me except my shirt collar ; and 
 one man fell on me and scratched my body with his nails like a 
 mad cat, and then muttered out: 'G — d damn ye, that's the way 
 the Holy Ghost falls on folks.' 
 
 "They then left me, and I attempted to arise, but fell again ; 
 I pulled the tar away from my lips, etc., so that I could breathe 
 more freely, and after awhile I began to recover, and raised myself 
 up, when I saw two lights. I made my way towards one of them, 
 and found it was Father Johnson's. When I had come to the door, 
 I was naked, and the tar made me look as though I had been cov- 
 ered with blood, and when my wife saw me she thought I was all 
 mashed to pieces, and fainted. During the affray abroad, the 
 sisters of the neighborhood had collected at my room. I called for 
 a blanket; they threw me one and shut the door: I wrapped it 
 around me and went in." 
 
 In this inhuman onslaught, Sidney Rigdon was dragged by his 
 heels over the frozen ground until his head was badly lacerated, 
 which rendered him delirious for several days. "Father Johnson" 
 was also roughly handled. Joseph's friends spent the remainder 
 of the night in removing the tar and washing and cleansing his 
 body, so that he could be clothed again. The next day was Sunday, 
 and true to his mission, and agreeably with his determined purpose 
 to do the will of heaven, he went to meeting, with his "flesh all 
 scarified and defaced," and preached to a congregation, among 
 whom were the identical mobbers who had thus invaded his home, 
 dragged him from his imploring wife and sick children, and abused 
 him in a manner disgraceful even to the character of savages, and 
 in the afternoon baptized three individuals. 
 
 Owing to the exposure to which the sick children were sub- 
 jected through this sudden and cruel demonstration, one of them 
 received a severe cold and died soon afterwards. 
 
 The mobbers were mostly, if not entirely, professors of reli- 
 gion. Simonds Rider, the leader of the mob, was a Campbellite 
 preacher. Not satisfied with the cruelties inflicted, they kept up 
 their aggressive demonstrations around "Father Johnson's" for 
 some time afterwards. The Martijrs, pp. 22-24. 
 
 THE FIRST APOSTATES OF THE CHURCH 
 
 By B. H. Roberts 
 
 Beautiful for situation is Hiram, one of the many incorporated 
 hamlets of northern Ohio. 
 
 A mile and a half westward from what Hiramites call the 
 "center," meaning by that the college campus and the neat modern 
 cottage homes that face it as a public square, is the old "Johnson 
 homestead," where the Prophet Joseph Smith lived for some months 
 during the eventful years of 1831 and 1832. Here in the east 
 upper room he, with Sidney Rigdon as scribe, "translated" or what 
 
PERSECUTIONS LED BY MODERN PREACHERS 75 
 
 would be more appropriate to say "revised" the King James' trans- 
 lation of the Bible. Here, on the front steps of the Johnson resi- 
 dence, the Prophet frequently preached to the multitudes that came 
 from the surrounding country to hear him. Here several revela- 
 tions were received, including what will doubtless be regarded 
 as the grandest revelation of all, that God has given in this dis- 
 pensation of the fullness of times — namely, the vision of the future 
 glories to which men may attain. That revelation which upsets the 
 theology of modern Christendom, and makes it clear that God is 
 indeed just, and that men can be, and will be judged according to 
 the deeds done in the body whether they be good or evil. 
 
 Here, too, the Prophet suffered one of the most painful and 
 brutal persecutions that overtook him in his eventful career. On 
 the night of the 25th of March, 1832, the Johnson residence was 
 quietly surrounded by a mob of the Prophet's 'enemies, determined 
 to kill him, or do him great bodily injury. Worn out with watch- 
 ing over the sick children of John Murdock, whom the prophet's 
 wife Emma, had taken to rear as her own, Joseph did not hear the 
 tapping on the windowpane, which was doubtless made by the 
 mob to ascertain if all were asleep in the household. The first 
 thing the Prophet was conscious of was the screams of his wife 
 and the fact that he was being carried bodily from the house into 
 the field. (See preceding article: "Devil's Incarnate Led by Sec- 
 tarian Ministers.") 
 
 The treatment of Sidney Rigdon on the same occasion 
 was more severe. He was dragged by the heels over the 
 hard frozen ground for a distance of some 30 rods, beaten into in- 
 sensibility, covered with tar and feathers, and left for dead. He 
 was living just across the road from Father Johnson's, in a log 
 house, at the time of the outrage, and for several days was de- 
 lirious. The villagers point out to this day the oak tree under 
 which he was tarred and feathered. "Why did the mob abuse these 
 men," I asked Hartwell Rider, to whom I had been recommended 
 as the "wise man" of the village, well versed in the history and 
 folklore of the neighborhood. "Well, the people did not want Hiram 
 to be a Mormon center ; and there was a man down at Shallersville 
 whose wife had joined the Mormon Church and was agoing with 
 the Mormons to Missouri — that was their Zion then, you know." 
 By the way, this Hartwell Rider, with whom I talked for the bet- 
 ter part of half a day, is the son of Simonds Rider, a noted Camp- 
 bellite preacher, who joined the Church at Hiram in 1831. From 
 remarks made by the different members of the mob who assaulted 
 the Prophet on that night of the 25th of March, 1832, Simonds 
 Rider was the leader of the mob; but his son Hartwell denies it, 
 and asks that it be erased from the "Mormon" books. "Well," I 
 replied, "that may be somewhat difficult, but I am happy to know 
 that you denounce the mobbing, and are anxious to sever the as- 
 sociation of your father's name with such an infamy." 
 
 It may be of interest to remark also that Simonds Rider and 
 Ezra Booth were among the first apostates of the Church. The 
 thing which took Rider out of the Church is rather humorous. 
 
76 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 It is claimed by his son, Hartwell, who seems a little ashamed that 
 his father ever was a "Mormon," that a revelation was received 
 by Joseph to the effect that Rider was to be an Elder in the Church, 
 and preach the Gospel, "but unfortunately/' says the son, "both in 
 the revelation and in the Elder's certificate the name Rider was 
 spelled R-y-d-e-r instead of R-i-d-e-r." This led the former Camp- 
 bellite preacher to "suspect" the inspiration that could make a 
 mistake in orthography, and so he left the Church! Ezra Booth 
 generally, though erroneously supposed to be the first apostate 
 from the Church, also lived at Hiram for a time, and here wrote 
 the anti-"Mormon" letters which will be his chief claim to fame. 
 "What became of Booth after he left the Mormon Church?" I 
 asked Hartwell Rider, "Did he prosper, was he a successful man?" 
 The old man shook his head. "No; if you mean in a business way. 
 Nor in any other way, for matter of that. You see, he was not a 
 strong man. He tried to please everybody to whom he preached. 
 He was not a man to take a stand and draw people to him. He 
 preached for the Methodists for a while, after he left the Mormons, 
 and then he went to spiritualism, then became an infidel and died 
 here a few years ago at Garretsville without any faith in God or 
 man." "Alas!" I mentally exclaimed, "how alike is the fate of 
 those who turn from the faith in the restored Gospel of Jesus 
 Christ! What a sad repetition it is — this wrecking of faith in 
 'God and man' when men who have received the light turn from 
 it to darkness ! It was promised in the very inception of the work 
 that it should be a saver of life unto life or of death unto death, and 
 truly the experience of the Church proves the declaration true. 
 Anti-Mormon writers cite the fact here alluded to as an evidence 
 of the soul-destroying power of Mormonism, saying that it leaves a 
 trail of infidelity wherever it has been received. That is true, 
 however, only in so far as men having once given to it their al- 
 legiance, then turn away from it. The beggarly elements from 
 which it called them could never seem quite the same to them after 
 they had once tasted the good word of God and the powers of the 
 world to come." But those who have remained true to "Mormonism" 
 and the obligations it enjoins, have not lost faith either in God or 
 man ; but have died happy in the hope and may I not say, knowledge, 
 of the reality of that eternal life which God, who cannot lie, prom- 
 ised before the world began. 
 
 Thoughtful men will look deeper for the meaning of what all 
 admit is a singular fact, viz. : that those who accept "Mormonism" 
 and then turn from it end in believing in nothing: and they will 
 see in that fact the evidence that these men have touched in their 
 lives some very vital truth, and proving recreant to it has left them 
 truth-stranded, by which I mean stripped of the truth or the power 
 to comprehend it or hold to it. In them the word of God is verified : 
 "For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and 
 have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the 
 Holy Ghost ... if they shall fall away to renew them again to re- 
 pentance ; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh 
 and put Him to an open shame." 
 
 Deseret Semi-Weekly News, Oct. 13, 18 — 
 
PERSECUTIONS LED BY MODERN PREACHERS 77 
 
 THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS WILL PERSECUTE THE SAINTS 
 
 By Orson Pratt 
 
 Although the great "mother of abominations" has not gathered 
 together in multitudes upon the face of the earth against the Lamb 
 of God and his Saints, yet there has been enough fulfilled to show 
 that the balance will be accomplished. Has this great and abom- 
 inable power, under the name of the "mother of harlots," popularly 
 called Christendom, fought against the Saints in this country? 
 Let the history of this Church answer that question ; let the scenes 
 we have passed through in the land of Missouri testify; let the 
 tribulation this people had to endure in the State of Illinois bear 
 witness. We will not refer to persecutions in Utah, for here we 
 have had but little compared with scenes we have passed through 
 in former years. Suffice it to say, multitudes have been gathered 
 together, under the influence of what? Under the influence of that 
 great and abominable church or system called "the mother of 
 harlots." 
 
 When we come to search to the bottom of this matter, we find 
 that it has been the great influence which has produced all the 
 persecutions that have come upon the Latter-day Saints since the 
 organization of this Church. How many preachers were gathered 
 together in the western part of Missouri, at the time we were 
 driven from the State, to give their advice in a pretended court- 
 martial to have some fifteen or twenty of the leaders of this people 
 taken out and shot on the public square the next morning? There 
 were not less than seventeen priests who advised the measure. 
 
 When we come to hunt for the great influence that has existed 
 on the multitudes that gathered to persecute the Saints of the Lamb 
 of God, we find it proceeding from the pulpit. Through the false- 
 hoods of priests and the publishing of false principles, they have 
 endeavored to set on the frenzied multitude to put to death the 
 Latter-day Saints and deprive them of citizenship.*** 
 
 Let us now go to Canada, and there a religious influence existed, 
 mobs arose, multitudes were gathered together, and the Saints 
 were stoned, hunted, and driven to and fro, and had to flee from 
 place to place. This persecution was raised by the "mother of 
 harlots," the "mother of abominations," because of what? Because 
 we told them the Lord had revealed the same kind of religion 
 in our day that he had eighteen hundred years ago. Go to England, 
 and the same has happened there. Multitudes and multitudes 
 started up against us. The Elders have had forty to fifty police 
 to guard them from their meetings to their homes, to keep them 
 from being destroyed by the tens of thousands of people that 
 blockaded the streets for miles in length. 
 
 I know these things to be facts from actual experience. I have 
 passed through them. I have had tens of thousands rush upon me 
 with the fury of tigers, and they were only restrained by the power 
 of God.*** Go to Denmark and we find the same opposing power; 
 and whenever this Church has been organized, or a branch estab- 
 lished, the "mother of abominations" has marshalled her host. 
 Masterful Writings of Orson Pratt, by N. B. Lundwall, pp. 138-140- 
 
CHAPTER 5 
 
 Conspiracies Against the Life of 
 the Prophet Joseph 
 
 JUDASES OF THE PROPHET JOSEPH 
 
 At a meeting of the city council in December, 1843, the sub- 
 ject of the menace to the city and the mayor was under consider- 
 ation, and Joseph said among other things: 
 
 I am exposed to far greater danger from traitors among our- 
 selves than from enemies without, although my life has been sought 
 for many years by the civil and military authorities, priests and 
 people of Missouri ; and if I can escape from the ungrateful treachery 
 of assassins, I can live as Caesar might have lived, were it not 
 for a right-hand Brutus. I have had pretended friends betray me. 
 All the enemies upon the face of the earth may roar and exert all 
 their power to bring about my death, but they can accomplish nothing, 
 unless some who are among us, who have enjoyed our society, have 
 been with us in our councils, participated in our confidence, taken 
 us by the hand, called us brother, saluted us with a kiss, join with 
 our enemies, turn our virtues into faults, and, by falsehood and deceit, 
 stir up their wrath and indignation against us, and bring their 
 united vengeance upon our heads. All the hue and cry of the chief 
 priests and elders against the Savior could not bring down the 
 wrath of the Jewish nation upon his head, and thereby cause the 
 crucifixion of the Son of God, until Judas said unto them. 'Whom- 
 soever I shall kiss he is the man; hold him fast.' Judas was one of 
 the Twelve Apostles, even their treasurer, and dipped with their 
 Master in the dish, and through his treachery, the crucifixion was 
 brought about; and we have a judas in our midst. 
 
 The Judas spirit manifested itself in Nauvoo in the spring of 
 1844. Alarmed by the Prophet's declaration that there was a 
 right hand Brutus near him, some of the men who were willing 
 to betray him feared that their machinations were discovered and 
 that vengeance might be wreaked upon them. William Law and 
 William Marks both feared or affected to fear for their lives. They 
 made complaint which reached the ears of the Prophet, and he 
 ordered an investigation in which they were allowed the fullest 
 license to examine witnesses. The result was to show to them how 
 utterly groundless was their fear ; but further it showed to all the 
 Saints that these men were not faithful. The people said : 
 
 "Is it possible that Brother Law or Brother Marks is a traitor 
 and would deliver Joseph into the hands of his enemies in Missouri? 
 If not, what can be the meaning of this? The righteous are bold 
 as a lion." 
 
 Joseph merely quoted: 
 
 "The wicked flee when no man pursueth." 
 
 But from this time on he knew from what quarter to expect 
 the kiss of Judas. Jealousy of the Prophet and their personal im- 
 purity led several leading men to apostasy and to a thirst for 
 
CONSPIRACIES AGAINST THE PROPHET'S LIFE 79 
 
 Joseph's blood. Among them were William Law, Wilson Law, 
 Chauncey L. Higbee, Francis M. Higbee and Robert D. Foster. They 
 became his avowed enemies; but in secret sympathy with them 
 were Sidney Rigdon, William Marks and Austin A. Cowles. 
 
 William Law was the leader of the movement. He declared 
 that Joseph was a fallen Prophet, and he attempted to set up a 
 church of his own. These apostates sought by every means in 
 their power to precipitate bloodshed in Nauvoo. They flagrantly 
 violated the law; insulted, abused and threatened the officers; 
 usurped official prerogatives; attempted to shoot Joseph; and 
 spread throughout the country, and even beyond its confines, the 
 most wicked misrepresentations and complaints concerning Joseph 
 and the municipal administration of Nauvoo. 
 
 The Prophet had long known of their treachery and had 
 warned the Saints that Judases were in their midst, without nam- 
 ing the individuals. He knew that in a little time the traitors would 
 betray themselves. When this expectation of the Prophet's was 
 realized and the Saints were enabled to see the perfidy of these 
 men, they were excommunicated. 
 
 After this it seemed as if Satan was turned loose in their souls. 
 Having no longer any profit in concealment they blazoned forth 
 their hatred for the Prophet and their own iniquities. Some of 
 them confessed that they knew that their sins were finding them 
 out and that they would soon have no reputation to lose anyhow, 
 and therefore they would persecute the Prophet and try to drag 
 him down with them. At this time anonymous letters threatening 
 the lives of Joseph and Hyrum were received and every conceiv- 
 able annoyance was perpetrated upon them. 
 
 On Saturday, the 25th day of May, 1844, the Prophet was 
 informed that he had been indicted at Carthage for the alleged 
 offenses of polygamy and perjury on the testimony of William 
 Law and others. Two days later learning that warrants were 
 out for him from the circuit court upon these indictments, he 
 determined to proceed to Carthage and give himself up. He had 
 a double purpose to serve in this action: He desired as usual to 
 show his respect for law and legal process ; and he wanted to avoid 
 having a Carthage mob come into Nauvoo to serve the writs. At 
 Carthage he was informed by Charles Foster and other apostates, 
 who repented their purpose for the moment, that a plot had been 
 laid for his death and that it was determined that he should not 
 leave that place alive. He secured lawyers and endeavored to have 
 his case brought forward for trial; but the prosecution insisted 
 upon delay and secured a postponement until the next term. In 
 the meantime Joseph was to be released on bail satisfactory to the 
 sheriff ; and that officer told him to go his way without bonds until 
 called upon. 
 
 His friends gathered around him when he prepared to de- 
 part for home, and by this means his life was saved, for armed 
 men threatened him and tried by force and stratagem to detain 
 him in Carthage until after dark that they might the better ac- 
 complish the assassination. But he knew their plot and departed, 
 
80 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 riding Joe Duncan and accompanied by Hyrum and others, and 
 reached home at 9 o'clock that evening. 
 
 Life of Joseph the Prophet, by Geo. Q. Cannon, pp. 430, 449-51. 
 
 CHARACTER OF CONSPIRATORS 
 
 By George Q. Cannon 
 
 William and Wilson Law, Chauncey L. and Francis M. Higbee, 
 Dr. Robert D. Foster, and others, were rank, bloodthirsty apostates. 
 They were leagued together, and had for their associates men who 
 were resolved to kill the prophet if they could. "Anti-Mormon" 
 organizations and mobs could have had but little influence if all 
 who had made profession of being Latter-day Saints had been true 
 to their brethren and their religion. But these men had trans- 
 gressed the laws of God, they had indulged in adultery, whoredom 
 and lust, and had, therefore, lost the Spirit of the Lord. 
 
 Besides these open and avowed apostates, there were men still 
 remaining in the Church who sympathized with them, and who, 
 at heart, were traitors to Joseph, and the work of God. Prominent 
 among these were Sidney Rigdon, William Marks and Austin A. 
 Cowles. There were many others, also, of lesser note. One of 
 these was a man by the name of James Blakeslee. We recollect 
 very distinctly hearing him, one Sunday, during this Spring (1844,) 
 speak from the public stand, and in the course of his remarks he 
 bore testimony to the truth of the work of God, and that Joseph 
 was a prophet of God. It was the afternoon of that same day, or 
 if not that day it was directly afterwards, he went and united him- 
 self with William Law's party and became an open apostate. Law 
 at that time was declaring that Joseph was a fallen prophet, and 
 was trying to form a church of his own. instructor, Vol. 14. 
 
 AFFIDAVIT OF HANNAH R. LARSON AND 
 ADESSA LARSON CHRISTENSEN 
 
 Hannah R. Larson whose maiden name was Hannah R. Stod- 
 dard, and Adessa Larson Christensen who is the daughter of 
 Hannah R. Stoddard Larson, depose and say : 
 
 Charles Henry Stoddard was born on the 21st of April, 1827, 
 in Newark, New Jersey, his parents being Israel Stoddard and 
 Sarah Woodward. As a boy he was employed by the Prophet 
 Joseph Smith, in Nauvoo, Illinois. While the Prophet was in hid- 
 ing, he carried food to the Prophet and delivered messages to and 
 from the Prophet. The Prophet trusted him implicitly. Upon 
 one occasion, when in the street fixing a kite, with other boys, a 
 man came up and inquired where the Prophet was, to which 
 Charles replied : "He went to heaven on Hyrum's white horse and 
 we are fixing this kite to send his dinner to him." No one suspected 
 his important duties because of his youth. 
 
 While employed by the Prophet Joseph, William Law request- 
 ed Charles to come and work for him. He did not want to. After 
 consulting the Prophet, he decided to do so. During his employ- 
 
CONSPIRACIES AGAINST THE PROPHET'S LIFE 81 
 
 ment with William Law, many private matters were talked of by 
 Law and his associates in the presence of the boy, without any 
 hesitation, perhaps thinking that the boy would not pay any at- 
 tention to what was said. The boy was nevertheless on the alert 
 and took full cognizance of what was going on. 
 
 Upon retiring one evening, in a lean-to attached to a building 
 which was partly vacant and partly used for storage purposes, the 
 lad was awakened by conversation being held in the vacant por- 
 tion of the building. This building was a rendezvous of the bitter 
 apostates and enemies of the Prophet among whom was William 
 Law, who seemed to be a ringleader. The lad listened through a 
 hole in the log structure through which light was also emerging, 
 and learned that these men were plotting against the Prophet's 
 life. He heard Law tell this group of apostates that he would have 
 Charles clean, oil and load his gun which was one of his regular 
 duties. After the group had disbanded and had all left the build- 
 ing, the lad dressed and hurried to the home of the Prophet and 
 told him all that he had seen and heard and asked the Prophet 
 what he should do. The Prophet told him to return and act as 
 though nothing had happened, and to do as his employer requested, 
 and admonished him to load the gun well. He told the boy that 
 they could not hurt him until his time had arrived. The boy did 
 as requested. The next morning, Mr. Law requested him to clean, 
 oil and load his six shooter, which was faithfully done as the 
 Prophet advised. When the opportune time arrived, Law aimed 
 the revolver at the Prophet with the intention of killing him. He 
 pulled the trigger but the gun mis-fired as did all of the other five 
 loads in the six shooter. He cursed because the gun did not dis- 
 charge, and blamed the boy for not loading the weapon properly. 
 The boy replied that he had done it to the best of his ability. Law 
 then aimed at a post and all six loads were discharged. 
 
 Years afterwards when Charles Henry Stoddard had emi- 
 grated to Utah, and living in Richmond, Utah, Joseph Smith, the 
 son of the Prophet Joseph and also the president of the Reorganized 
 Church, visited Stoddard and stayed over night in his home. This 
 statement Hannah R. Stoddard also affirms as she saw him in 
 Richmond. 
 
 The foregoing data was had from information told to Hannah 
 R. Stoddard by her grandfather Charles Henry Stoddard, and by 
 oft repeated stories recited to Adessa Larson Christensen by her 
 grandfather George Henry Stoddard, the eldest son of Charles 
 Henry Stoddard and Anna Telford, and is related to the best of 
 their knowledge and memory. 
 
 In Witness to the truthfulness of the foregoing statement, 
 the parties first before mentioned have hereunto signed their names. 
 
 Signed : Hannah R. Larson 
 Signed : Adessa Larson Christensen 
 TOWN OF ASHTON ) 
 STATE OF IDAHO \ ss " 
 
 Before me, a Notary Public in and for the State of Idaho, appeared 
 Hannah R. Larson and Adessa Larson Christensen and affixed their signa- 
 tures to the foregoing statement. 
 
82 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 In witness whereof, I have hereunto affixed my Notarial Seal, this 15th 
 day of October, 1949. 
 
 HIRAM G. FULLER 
 (SEAL) Notary Public 
 
 JUDASES FIRST SIN AND NEXT BETRAY 
 
 By George Q. Cannon 
 
 Do you doubt the existence of a devil and of evil spirits? Need 
 I ask the Latter-day Saints this? Have you not seen his spirit 
 manifested? You have seen men and women in this Church who 
 once were faithful and devoted to the work of God; but they fell 
 into sin, and another spirit took possession of them. Men as high 
 as members of the First Presidency have done this. / remember 
 very ivell William Laiv, counselor to the Prophet Joseph, a friend of 
 the Prophet, a friend of God apparently, a staunch man in the 
 Church; but he committed sin, and that man, ivho had occupied that 
 high and exalted station, cornpassed the death of the Prophet. He 
 was one of the chief conspirators in arranging plans for his de- 
 struction, and took an active part in urging on his martyrdom. 
 Members of the council of the Twelve Apostles also partook of the 
 same spirit. It is the spirit that Satan possesses ; for Jesus said of 
 him that he was a liar and a murderer from the beginning. He is 
 seeking constantly to destroy the work of God, filling men with his 
 spirit, and urging them forward to acts of deadly hate, even to kill 
 and to destroy. That is the spirit of Satan, and we see it mani- 
 fested in men. Millennial Star, 60:214. 
 
 MURDEROUS INTENTIONS OF WILLIAM LAW 
 
 AFFIDAVIT OF JESSE PRICE BEFORE AARON JOHNSON 
 
 "State of Illinois, County of Hancock, ss. 
 
 On the 5th day of August, 1844, personally appeared before me, 
 Aaron Johnson, justice of the peace in and for said county, Jesse 
 Price ; and after being duly sworn according to law, deposeth and 
 saith, that on or about the 18th of April, 1844, in the city of Nau- 
 voo, county aforesaid, William Law said, 'I put pistols in my pock- 
 ets one night, and went to Joseph Smith's house, determined to 
 blow his infernal brains out, but I could not get the opportunity 
 to shoot him then, but I am determined I will shoot him the first 
 opportunity, and you will see blood and thunder and devastation 
 in this place, but I shall not be here;' and deponent saith not 
 further." D.H.C. 7:227 
 
 ANOTHER WITNESS TESTIFIES 
 
 By Sarah H. Thomas 
 
 Charles Henry Stoddard was born April 21, 1827, at New 
 Jersey. His parents and family joined the church and moved to 
 Nauvoo in 1842, he being 15 years old and the eldest of the family 
 of six. They suffered the persecutions with the rest of the saints. 
 
CONSPIRACIES AGAINST THE PROPHET'S LIFE 83 
 
 He lived with the Prophet Joseph for a while. He also ivorked for 
 William Latu, one of the outlaivs and leaders of the gang that was 
 continually plotting and planning against the Prophet. Mr. Law, 
 not knowing that Mr. Stoddard was a friend of the Prophet or in- 
 terested in him in any tvay, ivas not as careful when talking of him 
 as he otherzvise ivould have been. Father (Mr. Stoddard) slept up- 
 stairs directly over the room where Mr. Law and his associates held 
 their secret meetings and could hear distinctly all their plans, and 
 as there happened to be a hole in the floor, he could look down and 
 see tvho ivas there. He would then go and tell the Prophet of their 
 plans and in this way he %vas kept posted to the traps that they set 
 for him. 
 
 In April 1846, two years after the death of the Prophet, they 
 were ordered out of Nauvoo. They crossed the Mississippi river in 
 an old wooden boat they had fixed. They took with them two 
 feather beds, a little clothing and some provisions. When they were 
 crossing the river, they looked back and saw their homes being 
 burned. Through the exposure and hardships their parents and 
 one brother (an infant) died; the mother died first and the babe 
 five weeks later. Six weeks from the time the mother died, the 
 father passed away, leaving five children homeless and almost 
 penniless, but not friendless, as the saints were very kind to them 
 and helped them all they could. 
 
 Dictated to the compiler of this book on Sunday, July 9, 1939. 
 
 CONSPIRACY OF NAUVOO 
 
 By Horace H. Cummings 
 
 The following note was dictated to the Compiler of this book on 
 Aug. 8, 1932, by Horace H. Cummings, the author of the article: 
 The Nauvoo Conspiracy. 
 
 "The article called THE NAUVOO CONSPIRACY, printed in 
 Volume 5, beginning about page 250, of the CONTRIBUTOR, 
 which was the Y.M.M.I.A. organ at that time; the incidents related 
 in that article were related to my parents by Dennison L. Harris, 
 who was Bishop of Monroe, Sevier County, at that time, at our 
 home during the spring conference of 1883, Brother Harris stopping 
 at our home as our guest. The incidents seemed so important and 
 so intensely interesting that I wrote them in my journal in det ul. 
 As the CONTRIBUTOR was offering a prize for a Christmas Story, 
 I extended my journal account somewhat and wrote that article in 
 competition for the prize. Before submitting the article to the press, 
 however, at the request of President John Taylor, I read it to him line 
 by line as he was in Nauvoo at the time the narration deals with and 
 the incidents happened and of course was with the Prophet at the 
 time he was killed. He was familiar with many of the things to 
 which the article refers and added certain elements to the story. 
 When completed, President Taylor gave it his hearty approval for 
 publication as a valuable document concerning Church history which 
 had never been previously published. The secret was held between 
 the Prophet and his body guard, John Scott who was the brother of 
 Robert Scott, the companion of Dennison L. Harris. 
 
 "The Prophet Joseph placed the two young men above men- 
 tioned under covenant that thev would not reveal what took place as 
 related in this CONSPIRACY for twenty years. The first time that 
 it was revealed was at the dedication of the St. George Temple, 
 when Brother Harris revealed it to President Brigham Young, 
 
84 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 whereupon President Young called in Brother Gibbs who took the 
 narration in shorthand for church record purposes." 
 
 Signed: Horace H. Cummings 
 
 Those who have read the life of Joseph Smith, the Prophet, 
 must be familiar with the fact that from his earliest boyhood he 
 was ever the object of bitter persecution. Notwithstanding the 
 numerous published accounts of mobbings, drivings, bodily in- 
 juries, aggravating accusations, mock trials, and murderous at- 
 tempts upon his life which he endured, and with which the peo- 
 ple are familiar, there are, no doubt, many events and trials yet 
 hidden from the world in the bosoms of his most familiar friends 
 which may have caused him far greater agony than many of those 
 with which the public are acquainted. Among these the following 
 narrative may be classed, as it has never before been published, 
 and the facts it contains may have had an important influence in 
 hastening, if not really accomplishing, the death of the Prophet. 
 
 Early in the spring of 1844 a very strong and bitter feeling 
 was aroused against Joseph, among many of his brethren in and 
 around Nauvoo; and some who held high positions in the Church 
 and were supposed to be his best friends, turned against him and 
 sought by various means in their power to do him injury. Many 
 murmured and complained, and some of the more wicked even 
 watched their opportunity to take his life, and were continually 
 plotting to accomplish that end. At length this wicked feeling be- 
 came so strong and general among a certain class, that it was re- 
 solved to form an organization, or secret combination, that would 
 better enable them to accomplish their wicked purposes. 
 
 Accordingly a secret meeting was appointed to take place in 
 the new brick house of William Law, Joseph's first counselor, on 
 a certain Sabbath, and invitations to attend it were carefully ex- 
 tended to members of the Church whom it was thought were dis- 
 affected, or in sympathy with these wicked views and desires. 
 Among those who received invitations to attend this meeting was 
 Brother Dennison L. Harris, now the Bishop of Monroe, Sevier 
 County, Utah, then but a young man of seventeen years of age. 
 Austin A. Cowles, at that time a member of the High Council, was 
 one of the leaders in this wicked movement, and being a near 
 neighbor and on intimate terms with Brother Harris, he had given 
 young Dennison an invitation to the secret meeting, and told him 
 also to invite his father, but to be sure and not breathe a word 
 about it to anyone else, as it was to be kept a profound secret. 
 Dennison was much perplexed over the invitation he had received, 
 and certain things that Brother Cowles had told him ; and while sit- 
 ting on his father's woodpile, thinking them over and wondering 
 what he had better do, another young man, named Robert Scott, 
 who lived but a short distance away, came over, sat down on the 
 log, and the two began to converse upon various subjects such as 
 generally engage the conversation of young men of their age. It 
 seems they had been intimate companions for several years; and 
 they had not conversed long before each discovered that the other 
 had something on his mind which troubled him, but which he 
 did not like to reveal. Finally, one proposed that, as they had 
 
CONSPIRACIES AGAINST THE PROPHET'S LIFE 85 
 
 always been confidants, they now exchange secrets, on condition 
 that neither should reveal what the other told him. 
 
 Both readily agreed to this, and when each had told the cause 
 of his anxiety, it proved to be the same — both had received an in- 
 vitation to the same secret meeting. Robert Scott, having been 
 reared by William Law, seemed to be almost a member of his family, 
 and on this account had been invited by him to attend the meeting. 
 
 "Well, Den," said Robert, after a short pause, "are you going 
 to attend the meeting?" 
 
 "I don't know," replied Dennison, "are you?" 
 
 "I don't know whether to go or not," said Robert; "suppose 
 we go in the house and tell your father of his invitation, and see 
 what he says about it." 
 
 They entered the house and consulted for some time with 
 Dennison's father, Emer Harris, who was a brother of Martin 
 Harris, one of the three witnesses of the Book of Mormon. They 
 informed him of his invitation to the same meeting, and told him 
 many other things that Brother Cowles had told Dennison. He de- 
 cided to go at once and lay the whole matter before the Prophet 
 Joseph Smith, who was then in Nauvoo, and ask his advice. He 
 immediately went to Joseph's house, a distance of about two and 
 a half miles, and informed him of the whole affair. Joseph listened 
 with interest until he had finished, when he said : "Brother Harris, 
 I would advise you not to attend those meetings, nor pay any at- 
 tention to them. You may tell the boys, however, that I would like 
 to have them go, but I want them to be sure to come and see me 
 before the meeting takes place. I wish to give them some counsel." 
 
 Subsequent events snowed the wisdom of Joseph in advising 
 Brother Emer Harris not to attend the meeting, and selecting 
 young men to do the work he wished to have accomplished. Brother 
 Harris returned and told the boys what Joseph desired them to 
 do, and they readily agreed to comply with his request. Accord- 
 ingly, on the next Sunday before the secret meeting took place, 
 Robert and Dennison called at the house of Joseph to learn what he 
 wished them to do. He told them he desired that they should at- 
 tend the meeting, pay strict attention, and report to him all their 
 proceedings at the first favorable opportunity. He moreover cau- 
 tioned them to have as little to say as possible, and to avoid giving 
 any offense. 
 
 They attended the meeting as desired. There were quite a 
 number present, and the time was mostly occupied in planning 
 how to get at things the best, and effect an organization. Strong 
 speeches were also made against the Prophet, and many lies were 
 told to prejudice the minds of those present against him. This 
 portion of the proceedings was not a difficult task, for the element 
 of which the audience was composed was only too susceptible to 
 such evil impressions, and those who spoke were eminently suc- 
 cessful in producing the desired impressions, and arousing the 
 feelings of enmity toward the Prophet, that they might wish to use 
 in accomplishing his overthrow. It seems that the immediate cause 
 of these wicked proceedings was the fact that Joseph had recently 
 presented the revelation on Celestial Marriage to the High Council 
 
86 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 for their approval, and certain members were most bitterly op- 
 posed to it, and denounced Joseph as a fallen Prophet, and were 
 determined to destroy him. 
 
 The meeting adjourned to convene again on the following 
 Sabbath, and the two young men were invited to attend the next 
 one also, but were cautioned not to tell a soul of what had trans- 
 pired at the first one. At the first suitable opportunity they called 
 upon Joseph, related to him what had taken place, and gave him 
 the names of those who had taken part in the proceedings. The 
 leading members among the conspirators, for such they really were, 
 were William and Wilson Law, Austin A. Cowles, Francis and 
 Chauncey Higbee, Robert Foster and his brother, two Hicks broth- 
 ers, and two merchants, Finche and Rollinson, who were enemies 
 to the Church. After hearing their report and asking several ques- 
 tions, which they answered to the best of their knowledge, Joseph 
 said : "Boys, I would like you to accept their invitation and attend 
 the second meeting. But come to me again next Sunday, before 
 their meeting convenes, as I may have something more to say to 
 you before you go.'' 
 
 At the expiration of a week they again went to see Joseph, 
 who gave them the necessary advice, after which they went to the 
 meeting. This time the conspirators were still more vehement in 
 their abusive remarks about Joseph. New crimes that he had 
 committed had been discovered, and the old ones were much mag- 
 nified. Their accusations were not only against him, but against 
 his brother Hyrum and other prominent men in Nauvoo. There 
 seemed to be no end to the wickedness of which these good men 
 were accused, as most of the time, until a late hour, was occupied 
 by different ones in denouncing and accusing Joseph and his friends 
 of the most heinous crimes. Before the meeting adjourned, how- 
 ever, it was agreed that they should all endeavor to work the mat- 
 ter up as much as possible during the week, that something definite 
 might be accomplished towards effecting a more complete organ- 
 ization without further delay. The meeting was to convene again 
 on the following Sunday. As the boys had kept quiet and said noth- 
 ing against any of their proceedings, it was supposed, of course, 
 that they were in sympathy with the movement, and an invitation 
 was accordingly extended for them to attend the next meeting. 
 
 As on the previous occasion, the young men watched a fit- 
 ting opportunity of reporting to Joseph without arousing the 
 suspicions of any that attended the meeting. He listened atten- 
 tively to the recital of all that had taken place at the second meet- 
 ing, after which he said : "Boys, come to me again next Sunday. I 
 wish you to attend the next meeting also." The boys promised to 
 do so, and left the room. They kept the meetings and their con- 
 nection with them, however, a profound secret from the rest of 
 their friends, and at the appointed time again went to the house 
 of Joseph to receive their usual instructions. This time he said to 
 them, with a very serious countenance: 'This will be your last 
 meeting; this will be the last time that they will admit you into 
 their councils. They will come to some determination. But be 
 sure," he continued, "that you make no covenants, nor enter into 
 
CONSPIRACIES AGAINST THE PROPHET'S LIFE 87 
 
 any obligations whatever with them. Be strictly reserved, and 
 make no promise either to conspire against me or any portion of 
 the community. Be silent, and do not take any part in their de- 
 liberations." After a pause of some moments, he added: "Boys, 
 this will be their last meeting, and they may shed your blood, but 
 I hardly think they will, as you are so young. If they do, I will be 
 a lion in their path ! Don't flinch. If you have to die ; die like men ; 
 you will be martyrs to the cause, and your crowns can be no great- 
 er. But," said he again, "I hardly think they will shed your blood." 
 
 This interview was a long one. Joseph's sensitive feelings 
 were touched by the faith, generosity and love manifested by these 
 young men in their willingness to undertake such a hazardous 
 enterprise at his bidding. He blessed them and made them pre- 
 cious promises for their sacrifice, and told them if their lives were 
 taken their reward would be all the greater. After leaving Jo- 
 seph's house with his sincere wishes for their safety, the boys 
 waited anxiously for the time of meeting to arrive. They fully 
 realized the dangers into which they were about to plunge them- 
 selves, yet they did not shrink. They knew it was their duty, and 
 they determined to attempt it at all hazards. They were now 
 familiar with the names of the persons conspiring against Joseph, 
 the object they had in view, and many of their plans for accom- 
 plishing that object. Moreover, they were supposed by the would- 
 be murderers to be in perfect sympathy with all their hellish de- 
 signs ; and if, by any circumstance, they should arouse the suspicion 
 that they were present at Joseph's request, or even with his knowl- 
 edge, their lives in such a crowd would, indeed, be of little value. 
 They determined to trust in the Lord and die rather than betray 
 the Priesthood. Their feelings may perhaps be imagined as the 
 time of meeting drew near, and they started off in the direction 
 of William Law's house, where it was to be held. They certainly 
 displayed faith that every young man in Israel should cultivate. 
 
 On arriving at the rendezvous they found, to their surprise 
 and discomfiture, that the entrance to the house was guarded by 
 men armed with muskets and bayonets. After being scrutinized 
 from head to foot, and carefully cross-questioned, they succeeded 
 in passing the guards and gaining admittance. From this it will 
 be seen that great care was taken to prevent any person from 
 entering, except those whom they knew to be of their party, and 
 ready to adopt any measures that might be suggested against the 
 Prophet Joseph. On entering they found considerable confusion 
 and much counseling among the members of the conspiracy. All 
 seemed determined that Joseph should die, yet objections were 
 raised by some to each of the plans proposed. 
 
 The Prophet was accused of the most wicked acts, and all 
 manner of evil was spoken of him. Some declared that he had 
 sought to get their wives away from them, and had many times 
 committed adultery. They said he was a fallen Prophet, and was 
 leading the people to destruction. Joseph was not the only one 
 against whom they lied. His brother Hyrum and many of the lead- 
 ing men in Nauvoo were accused of being in league with him and 
 
88 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 sharing his crimes. In these councilings and plannings, consider- 
 able time was spent before the meeting was called to order, and 
 anything definite commenced. The boys, however, followed Jo- 
 seph's instructions, and remained quiet and reserved. This seemed 
 to arouse the suspicions of some that they were not earnestly in 
 favor of their wicked purposes, and some of the conspirators began 
 to take especial pains to explain to the young men the great crimes 
 that Joseph had committed, and the results that would follow if his 
 wicked career were not checked, with a view to convincing them 
 that their severe measures against Joseph were for the best good 
 of the Church, and persuading them to take an active part with 
 them in accomplishing this great good. The two boys, however, 
 sat together quietly, and would simply answer their arguments 
 by saying that they were only young boys, and did not understand 
 such things, and would rather not take part in their proceedings. 
 
 As before stated, Brother Scott had been reared in the family 
 of William Law, and the latter pretended great friendship for him 
 on that account, and was very anxious to explain to him the object 
 of the proposed organization, and induce him to join. He would 
 come around and sit beside Robert, put his arm around his neck, 
 and persuade, argue, and implore him to join in their effort to rid 
 the Church of such a dangerous impostor. At the same time Broth- 
 er Cowles would sit beside Brother Harris in the same attitude, 
 and labor with him with equal earnestness. The boys, however, 
 were not easily convinced. Still, in their replies and remarks, they 
 carefully tried to avoid giving the least offense or arousing any 
 suspicions regarding the true cause of their presence. They said 
 they were too young to understand the "spiritual wife doctrine," 
 of which Joseph was accused, and many of the other things that 
 they condemned in the Prophet. Joseph had never done them any 
 harm, and they did not like to join in a conspiracy against his life. 
 "But," they would urge, "Joseph is a fallen Prophet; he receives 
 revelations from the devil, and is deceiving the people, and if some- 
 thing decisive is not done at once to get rid of him, the whole 
 Church will be led by him to destruction." These and many other 
 arguments were vainly brought forth to induce the boys to join 
 them, but they still pretended not to understand nor take much in- 
 terest in such things. At length they ceased their persuasions, and, 
 things having developed sufficiently, they concluded to proceed 
 with the intended organization. 
 
 An oath had been prepared which each member of the organ- 
 ization was now required to take. Francis Higbee, a justice of the 
 peace, sat at a table in one end of the room, and administered the 
 oath to each individual separately, in the following manner : The 
 candidate would step forward to the table, take up a Bible, which 
 had been provided for the purpose, and raise it in his right hand, 
 whereupon the justice would ask him in a solemn tone, "Are you 
 ready?" And, receiving answer in the affirmative, would continue 
 in a tone and manner that struck awe to the minds of the boys as 
 they listened : "You solemnly swear, before God and all holy angels, 
 and these your brethren by whom you are surrounded, that you will 
 give your life, your liberty, your influence, your all, for the destruc- 
 
CONSPIRACIES AGAINST THE PROPHET'S LIFE 89 
 
 tion of Joseph Smith and his party, so help you God!" The person 
 being sworn would then say, "I do," after which he would lay down 
 the Bible and sign his name to a written copy of the oath in a book 
 that was lying on the table, and it would be legally acknowledged 
 by the justice of the peace. 
 
 The boys sat gazing upon this scene, wondering how intelligent 
 beings who had once enjoyed the light of truth could have fallen 
 into such depths of wickedness as to be anxious to take such an 
 oath against the Prophet of God and his faithful followers. They 
 also felt no little uneasiness concerning their own fate, and almost 
 dreaded the moment when the last one should have taken the oath. 
 At length that portion of the business ivas accomplished, and about 
 two hundred persons had taken the oath. Among that number were 
 three women, who were ushered in, closely veiled to prevent being 
 recognized, and required to take the same oath. Besides doing 
 this, they also testified that Joseph and Hyrum Smith had endeav- 
 ored to seduce them ; had made the most indecent and wicked pro- 
 posals to them, and wished them to become their wives. After 
 making affidavit to a series of lies of this kind, they made their 
 exit through a back door. One of the women, whom the boys sus- 
 pected as being William Law's wife, was crying, and seemed to 
 dislike taking the oath, but did so as one who feared that the great- 
 est bodily injury would surely follow a refusal. 
 
 After the oath had been administered to all but the two boys, 
 Law, Cowles and others again commenced their labors to get them 
 to take it, but met the same success as before. Arguments, per- 
 suasions and threats were in turn used to accomplish their desire, 
 but in vain. They exhausted their ingenuity in inventing argu- 
 ments, lies and inducements to get the boys to unite with their band. 
 "Have you not heard," they said, "the strong testimony of all pres- 
 ent against Joseph Smith ? Can a man be a true Prophet who would 
 commit adultery? He is a fallen Prophet, and is teaching the peo- 
 ple doctrines that his own imagination or lustful desires have in- 
 vented, or else he received that revelation from the devil. He will 
 surely lead the whole Church to destruction if his career is not 
 stopped. We can do nothing with him by the law, and for the sake 
 of the Church ive deem it our solemn duty to accomplish his destruc- 
 tion and rescue the people from this peril. We are simply combin- 
 ing and conspiring to save the Church, and we wish you to join us in 
 our efforts, and share the honors that will be ours. Come, take 
 the oath, and all will be well." 
 
 "Oh, we are too young," they replied, "to understand or 
 meddle with such things, and would rather let others who are 
 older and know more do such work. We came to your meetings 
 because we thought you were our friends and gave us a kind invita- 
 tion. We did not think there was any harm in it; but if you will 
 allow us to go now, we will not trouble any more of your meetings. 
 Joseph Smith has never done us any harm, and we do not feel 
 like injuring him." 
 
 "Come, boys," said another of the crowd, "do as we have 
 done. You are young and will not have anything to do in the affair ; 
 
90 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 but we want you should keep it a secret, and act with us ; that's 
 all." 
 
 "No," replied the boys in a firm but cool tone, as they rose 
 to leave, "we cannot take an oath like that against any man who 
 has never done us the least injury." They would gladly have 
 passed out and escaped the trouble they saw brewing for them; 
 but, as they feared, they were not allowed to depart so easily. 
 One of the band exclaimed in a very determined voice : "No, not by 
 
 a d d sight! You know all our plans and arrangements, and 
 
 we don't propose that you should leave in that style. You've got 
 to take that oath, or you'll never leave here alive." 
 
 The attention of all was now directed to the two boys, and 
 considerable confusion prevailed. A voice shouted, "Dead men 
 tell no tales!" whereupon a general clamor arose for the boys to 
 take the oath or be killed. Even their pretended friends, Cowles 
 and Law, turned against them. "If you do not take that oath," said 
 one of the leading members, in a blood curdling tone, "we will 
 cut your throats." The looks and conduct of the rest showed 
 plainly that he had spoken only what they were ready to execute. 
 It was evident the mob was eager for blood. That moment cer- 
 tainly must have been a trying one, but it seemed that fear had 
 suddenly vanished from the bosoms of the two boys, and they 
 coolly but positively again declared that they would not take that 
 oath, nor enter into any other movement against the Prophet 
 Joseph. 
 
 The mob was now enraged, as they thought they were betrayed, 
 and it was with the greatest difficulty that the leaders succeeded 
 in keeping them from falling upon the boys and cutting them to 
 pieces. The leaders, however, were no less determined that the 
 boys should die; but as the house in which the meeting was held 
 stood but a short distance back from the street, they thought it 
 better to be more quiet about it, lest some one might be passing 
 and discover what was going on. Order was at last restored, when 
 it was decided to take the boys down the cellar, where the deed 
 could be more safely accomplished. Accordingly, a guard, with 
 drawn swords and bowie knives, was placed on either side of the 
 boys, while two others, armed with cocked muskets and bayonets, 
 at their backs, brought up the rear as they were marched off in 
 the direction of the cellar. William and Wilson Law, Austin Cowles, 
 and others, accompanied them to the cellar. Before committing 
 the murderous deed, however, they gave the boys one more chance 
 for their lives. One of them said : "Boys, if you will take that 
 oath your lives shall be spared ; but you know too much for us to 
 allow you to go free, and if you are still determined to refuse, we 
 will have to shed your blood." But the boys, with most com- 
 mendable courage, in the very jaws of death, once more rejected 
 the only means that would save their lives. 
 
 At this juncture, when it seemed that each moment would 
 end the earthly existence of these two noble young men, a voice 
 from some one in the crowd, as if by Divine interposition, called 
 out just in time to save their lives: "Hold on! Hold on there! Let's 
 talk this matter over before their blood is shed!" and with great 
 
CONSPIRACIES AGAINST THE PROPHET'S LIFE 91 
 
 difficulty some of the more cautious ones succeeded in quieting 
 those whose anger and excitement prevented them from weighing 
 well what they were on the verge of committing, and considering 
 the consequences that would inevitably follow. Thus the in- 
 stantaneous death of the boys was prevented, while the crowd 
 retired to the farther end of the room and consulted earnestly 
 together, in so low a tone, however, that the boys could not hear 
 what they said. It was evident, however, that they were nearly 
 equally divided in their views of the feasibility of putting the 
 boys to death. Some appeared to be enraged and fully determined 
 to shed their blood, while others were equally resolved to prevent 
 the cruel deed. During the discussion the boys distinctly heard 
 one of them say : 'The boys' parents very likely know where they 
 are, and if they do not return home, strong suspicions will be 
 aroused, and they may institute a search that would be very 
 dangerous to us. It is already late, and time that the boys were 
 home." 
 
 This was a very important consideration, as well as a very 
 unexpected circumstance in favor of the boys. Hope rose high 
 in their breasts as the discussion continued, and one by one of 
 the more excited conspirators was silenced, if not convinced, until 
 at length the tide turned in favor of the boys, and it was decided 
 that they should be released. Some openly, and many in their 
 feelings, opposed this resolution, as they considered it as unsafe 
 to liberate the boys to reveal all their plans, as to kill them and 
 get them out of the way. 
 
 A strong guard was provided to escort them to a proper dis- 
 tance, lest some of the gang might kill them before they made 
 their escape. They placed a strict injunction upon the boys not 
 to reveal anything they had seen or heard in these meetings, and 
 declared if they did, any member of the conspiracy would kill 
 them at first sight. This caution and threat were repeated several 
 times in a way that gave the boys to understand that they meant 
 all they said, and would just as leave slay them as not if they 
 suspected anything had been revealed by them. 
 
 Everything being ready, the boys started off in charge of the 
 guard. Right glad were they to once more gain the open air with 
 so good a prospect for their lives, and they breathed a sigh of relief 
 and satisfaction when they were out of sight of the house in which 
 they had endured such great peril. They took an unfrequented 
 road down toward the Mississippi River, which runs around one 
 side of Nauvoo. Some of the guard were very much dissatisfied 
 with the way the tables had turned, and, when they had got a safe 
 distance from the house, they halted to consider if it would not be 
 best to slay the boys on their own responsibility. They would gladly 
 have murdered them if they could have done so with any hopes of 
 having the deed remain undiscovered; but, after some discussion, 
 they contented themselves by reiterating the cautions and threats 
 that had been given to the boys before starting. They continued 
 their march until within a few rods of the river, when they halted, 
 and one of the guards said: 
 
 "Well, I guess we have gone about far enough, and had bet- 
 
92 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 ter turn back." Then turning to the boys, he continued, "Boys, 
 if you ever open your mouths concerning anything you have seen 
 or heard in any of our meetings, we will kill you by night or by 
 day, wherever we find you, and consider it our duty." 
 
 "Oh, don't fear on that account," replied the boys, anxious 
 to allay their uneasiness, lest they still might take a notion to slay 
 them and cast their bodies into the river, "we can see that it is 
 greatly to our advantage and necessary to our peace and safety 
 to keep silent concerning these things." 
 
 "I'm glad you've got sense enough to see it in that light," was 
 the rejoinder, in a tone that indicated his mind was somewhat 
 relieved. 
 
 During this conversation, one of the boys looking towards 
 the river, to his great surprise, saw a hand rise into view from 
 behind the bank and beckon for them to come that way. The guards, 
 after admonishing them once more to be silent, and telling them 
 their lives depended upon their keeping the secret, turned to re- 
 trace their steps just as one of the boys, anxious to put them at 
 ease as much as possible, said to his companion: "Let's go down 
 to the river." 
 
 "Yes," returned the guard, evidently pleased with the ar- 
 rangement; "you had better go down to the river." 
 
 The reader will readily understand that the meeting had 
 lasted until a late hour in the afternoon, and the conspirators had 
 already detained the boys so long, that they were afraid their 
 parents and friends, some of whom perhaps knew where the boys 
 had gone, would become anxious and begin to suspect foul play, 
 and possibly might institute a search which would prove exceed- 
 ingly disadvantageous to the conspiracy. The boys, therefore, very 
 adroitly proposed to go to the river, so if they were found there 
 it would be sufficient explanation for their long absence. The 
 guards perceived the idea instantly, and it pleased them, for it 
 indicated to them that the boys wished to keep the secret, and 
 avoid being questioned too closely. 
 
 The boys started off on a run toward the river, but, lest the 
 guards should watch them, and discover the presence of Joseph, 
 whose hand it was they had seen above the bank, they directed 
 their course to a point about a quarter of a mile beyond where 
 Joseph was, knowing that he would follow them. On reaching the 
 river, they stepped down the bank, and there awaited the arrival 
 of the Prophet, while the guards returned to the meeting. 
 
 It seems that Joseph, knowing the danger into which the 
 boys had gone, had become so uneasy at their long absence, that 
 he could no longer remain at home, so he and one of his body 
 guard, John Scott, who was the brother to Robert, started out to 
 see if they could discover what had become of them. Perhaps they 
 suspected the boys had been murdered, and that their bodies 
 would be thrown into the stream, as William Law's house, where 
 the meeting was held, was but a short distance from the river. At 
 all events, they were there under the bank when the boys were 
 liberated, and now glided around close to the water's edge to the 
 point where the boys were awaiting them. 
 
CONSPIRACIES AGAINST THE PROPHET'S LIFE 93 
 
 It was a joyful meeting; Joseph seemed delighted to see that 
 the boys had escaped with their lives. The party walked on to a 
 point nearly opposite Joseph's store, where a board fence came 
 down to the edge of the river, forming, together with the orchard 
 trees and shrubbery, a suitable retreat where they could converse 
 without any danger of being seen or heard. 
 
 "Let us sit down here," said Joseph. All four of them en- 
 tered the secluded retreat, and, when they were seated, he con- 
 tinued : "Boys, we saw your danger and were afraid you would not 
 get out alive, but we are thankful that you got off safely. Now 
 relate to me all that you have witnessed." 
 
 The boys then gave him a complete account of all they had 
 witnessed and passed through; repeated to him the oath they had 
 seen and heard administered to some two hundred individuals 
 separately; gave him the names of all they knew that had taken 
 the oath; in short, they gave him a most accurate recital of all 
 they had seen and heard. 
 
 Joseph and his companion listened very attentively, and, as 
 the boys proceeded, a very grave expression crept over the counte- 
 nance of the former, showing that a deep anxiety was preying upon 
 his mind. When the recital was finished, a pause of some length 
 ensued. Joseph was very much moved, and at length burst out: 
 "0, brethren, you do not know what this will terminate in !" But 
 proceeded no further, for his feelings were so strong that he burst 
 into tears. 
 
 In great agitation, Brother John Scott, who was an intimate 
 and trusted friend of Joseph, sprang forward, and throwing his 
 arms around the Prophet's neck, exclaimed: "0, Brother Joseph! 
 do you think they are going to kill you?" and they fell on each 
 others' necks and wept bitterly. The scene is difficult to describe. 
 The thought of losing their friend and Prophet by the hands of 
 such a bloodthirsty mob was sufficient to wring their hearts ; and 
 those brave men who, but a few moments before, had fearlessly 
 faced death, and scorned the proffered conditions on which their 
 lives might be spared, now wept like children, and mingled their 
 tears with those of their leader. 
 
 Joseph was the first to master his feelings, and, raising 
 Brother Scott's arms from off his neck, he said, in a deep and 
 sorrowful tone: "I fully comprehend it!" He then relaxed into a 
 solemn study, while his brethren anxiously watched the changes 
 of his countenance as if they would read the thoughts and feelings 
 that were preying upon his heart. The scene was painful and im- 
 pressive. Each moment they expected to hear him say that his 
 work on earth was done, and that he would have to be slain to seal 
 his testimony. 
 
 After a long silence he finally continued: "Brethren, I am 
 going to leave you. I shall not be with you long; it will not be 
 many months until I shall have to go." 
 
 This remark still left them in doubt as to his future fate, but 
 had such significance that Brother Scott again anxiously inquired : 
 "Brother Joseph, are you going to be slain?" 
 
 Joseph, for some reason, evaded a direct reply, but continued 
 
94 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 in a tone that told too plainly of the sorrow he felt: "I am going 
 away, and will not be known among this people for twenty years 
 or more. I shall go to rest for a season." 
 
 This reply did not clear away their doubts any more than 
 the former one, but it was evident he intended to leave the people 
 and keep hid more closely than he ever had done, or else, with 
 prophetic vision, he discerned the final outcome of his enemies' 
 efforts, and, through compassion, forebore to crush the spirits of 
 his brethren by telling them plainly the whole truth. 
 
 Subsequent events leave us still in doubt as to the real pur- 
 port of his words. The dark clouds of persecution from enemies 
 without, fearfully augmented by traitors from within, grew so 
 threatening toward the close of the Prophet's life, that he saw 
 something must be done for the safety of himself and the people. 
 He therefore conceived the idea of moving the Saints once more, 
 and this time far beyond the cruel blasts of persecution, and seek 
 shelter behind the barriers of the Rocky Mountains. He called for 
 a company of volunteers to explore the great West, and find the 
 most suitable place for the Saints to settle. Quite a number vol- 
 unteered and began to make preparations for the journey. 
 
 It is a well known fact that just previous to surrendering him- 
 self to be taken to Carthage, Joseph got into a boat and started 
 across the river, evidently to evade his enemies. He intended 
 to keep out of their hands until this company had procured a suit- 
 able outfit for such an undertaking, when he would have accom- 
 panied them. Some of his brethren, however, begged him not to 
 desert the people in such a time of trouble and danger, and at their 
 importunity he returned to Nauvoo, and we all know the result. 
 He was induced to surrender himself to the officers of the law, was 
 cast into prison, and there cruelly murdered by a bloodthirsty mob. 
 
 Perhaps, in reply to Brother Scott's question, Joseph was 
 revolving these plans in his mind, and looking forward to the time 
 when he and the Saints would be beyond the reach of persecution ; 
 it is now impossible to tell, but the events which followed rather 
 indicate that he foresaw his death. However, he continued in 
 great earnestness : 
 
 "They accuse me of polygamy, and of being a false Prophet, 
 and many other tilings which I do not now remember; but I am 
 no false Prophet; I am no impostor; I have had no dark revelations; 
 I have had no revelations from the devil; I made no revelations; I 
 have got nothing up myself. The same God that has thus far 
 dictated, me and directed me and strengthened me in this work, gave 
 me this revelation- and commandment on celestial and plural mar- 
 riage, and the same God commanded me to obey it. He said to 
 me that unless I accepted it and introduced it, and practiced it, I, 
 together with my people, would be damned and cut off from this 
 time henceforth. And they say if I do so, they will kill me. 0, what 
 shall I do? If I do not practice it I shall be damned witJi my people. 
 If I do teach it, and practice it, and, urge it, they say they will kill 
 me, and I know they will. But," said he, "ice have got to observe 
 it. It is an eternal principle, and was given by way of command- 
 ment and not by way of instruction." 
 
CONSPIRACIES AGAINST THE PROPHET'S LIFE 95 
 
 It will be seen from these outbursts of his soul what a con- 
 flict was going on in his mind, and the agony that he endured can 
 only be imagined by those who knew his sensitive and generous 
 spirit. Persecution and imprisonment from the hand of an enemy 
 would be passed by almost unnoticed when compared with these 
 murderous thrusts from the daggers of alienated friends. Death, 
 to a man who was so familiar with the unseen world and the 
 happiness to be enjoyed there, was stripped of its terrors. His 
 fear of simply losing his life caused him little anxiety. But his 
 whole soul was in the work which the Lord had given him to do, 
 and such bloodthirsty opposition to a commandment of God among 
 his brethren caused the greatest anxiety and grief. His greatest 
 trials are, no doubt, hid deepest from our view. 
 
 The consultation lasted for a long time before they separated 
 to their homes, and impressions were made on the minds of our 
 two young heroes that will last forever. They got an insight into 
 the life of the Prophet and the nature of the work he had to per- 
 form, that had never before entered their imaginations. Their 
 love for him and the cause in which he was laboring was increased, 
 and gladly would they have laid down their lives to have saved his. 
 
 Before separating, however, Joseph placed a seal upon the 
 boys' lips, and made them promise that they would not reveal 
 what had transpired that day to a living soul — not even to their 
 own fathers, for at least twenty years. The object of placing this 
 injunction upon them no doubt was for their own safety, as their 
 lives would probably have been taken if any of the conspirators 
 should ever find out that any of their proceedings had been revealed. 
 The boys kept their promise, and now, after a lapse of so many 
 years, these important facts, which throw light upon many of the 
 acts and sayings of Joseph Smith, which his brethren could never 
 before fully understand, are revealed and placed with other im- 
 portant records in the archives of the Church. 
 
 The muse of history, too often blind to true glory, has handed 
 down to posterity many a warrior, the destroyer of thousands of 
 his fellowmen, and left us ignorant of the valorous deeds of real 
 heroes, whose lot chanced to be more humbly cast ; but in that day, 
 when all men's actions will be revealed upon the housetops, we 
 shall, no doubt, see the names of Dennison L. Harris and Robert 
 Scott among the world's heroes as stars of no small magnitude. 
 
 "Fact is stranger than fiction," and in value they cannot be 
 compared. I respectfully submit the above narrative, which is a 
 true recital of events that actually transpired. The manuscript 
 has been carefully scrutinized by proper authorities who are satis- 
 fied of its authenticity and have approved its publication, as an 
 important and accurate item of history connected with the Church. 
 
 GOVERNOR THOMAS FORD, A CONSPIRATOR 
 (1). H. C. 6:586-590) 
 
 Territory of Utah, / 
 Great Salt Lake City ( ss 
 
 Personally appeared before me, Thomas Bullock, Recorder of 
 
96 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 Great Salt Lake County, Alfred Randall, who deposes and says, 
 that about ten o'clock on the morning of the (26th) twenty-sixth 
 day of June, one thousand eight hundred and forty-four, he was in 
 Carthage, Hancock county, Illinois, and as the troops, under Gov- 
 ernor Thomas Ford, were in squads around the square, he went 
 up to several of them, and heard one of the soldiers say: "When 
 I left home I calculated to see old Joe dead before I returned. " 
 when several others said, "So did I," "So did I," and "I'll be damned 
 if I don't/' was the general reply. 
 
 One fellow then spoke up and said "I shouldn't wonder if there 
 is some damned Mormon hearing all we have to say." Another who 
 stood next to Randall, replied, "If I knew there was, I would run 
 him through with my bayonet." 
 
 In a few minutes Randall went to another crowd of soldiers, 
 and heard one say, "I guess this will be the last of old Joe." From 
 there Randall went to Hamilton's Hotel, where Governor Thomas 
 Ford was standing by the fence side, and heard another soldier tell 
 Governor Thomas Ford, "The soldiers are determined to see Joe 
 Smith dead before they leave here." Ford replied, "If you know 
 of any such thing keep it to yourself." 
 
 In a short time Randall started for his own home, stayed all 
 night, and arrived in Nauvoo on the twenty-seventh of June, when 
 Governor Ford was making his notorious speech to the citizens. 
 And further this deponent saith not. Alfred Randall. 
 
 Subscribed and sworn to before me this twelfth day of Feb- 
 ruary, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-five. 
 
 Thomas Bullock, 
 Recorder, Great Salt Lake County. 
 
 On the 26th day of June, A. D. 1844, near the mansion in the 
 city of Nauvoo, I fell in company with Col. Enoch C. March and 
 Geo. T. M. Davis, Esq., from Alton, Illinois, editor of the Telegraph, 
 who had just arrived from Carthage, where they said they had 
 been for some days, in company with Governor Ford and others, 
 in council upon the subject of the arrest and trial of Joseph and 
 Hyrum Smith, who were then prisoners in the county jail in 
 Carthage. 
 
 After considerable conversation between myself and them on 
 the subject of the Mormon religion, and the reasons why I had 
 embraced that faith, and renounced my former religious discipline 
 — viz. that of the Methodists, Mr. March asked me what I thought 
 of Joe Smith, and if I had any hopes of his return to Nauvoo in 
 safety. 
 
 I answered that I knew Joseph Smith was a true Prophet of 
 the living God, as good and virtuous a man as ever lived upon the 
 earth; that the Book of Mormon was true as holy writ, and was 
 brought forth precisely in the way and manner it purported to be, 
 by the gift and power of the Lord Almighty, and from no other 
 source; and that the revelations he had received and published 
 were eternal truth, and heaven and earth would pass away before 
 
CONSPIRACIES AGAINST THE PROPHET'S LIFE 97 
 
 one jot or tittle of the same should fail, and all that he pretended 
 and testified to concerning the ministration of holy angels from 
 the heavens to him, the Urim and Thummim, the voice of God, his 
 correspondence with the heavens, was the truth and nothing but 
 the truth; and that in relation to his return I had no doubt but 
 that he would be honorably discharged upon his trial by the court, 
 and would be preserved in safety from the power of his enemies; 
 that he was in the hands of his God, whom he loved and faithfully 
 served ; and He, who held the destinies of nations in His own hands, 
 would deliver him from his enemies, as He had done hundreds of 
 times before. 
 
 Col. March replied, "Mr. Wright, you are mistaken, and I know 
 it ; you do not know what I know ; I tell you they will kill Joe Smith 
 before he leaves Carthage, and I know it, and you never will see him 
 alive again." Said I, "Enoch, I do not believe it, he is in the hands 
 of God, and God will deliver him." Says he, "I know better; when 
 you hear of him again, you will hear he is dead, and I know it. The 
 people at Carthage wanted permission from the Governor to kill 
 you all and burn up your city, and Ford (the Governor) asked me 
 if I thought it was best to suffer it. I replied, 'No, no, for God's 
 sake, Ford, don't suffer it, that will never do, no never. Just see 
 for a moment, Ford, what that would do; it would be the means 
 of murdering thousands of innocent men, women and children, and 
 destroying thousands of dollars' worth of property, and that would 
 never do, it would not be sanctioned, it would disgrace the nation. 
 You have now got the principal men here under your own con- 
 trol, they are all you want, what more do you want? When they 
 are out of the way the thing is settled, and the people will be 
 satisfied, and that is the easiest way you can dispose of it'; and 
 Governor Ford concluded upon the whole that was the best policy, 
 and I know it will be done." 
 
 Mayor's Office, Great Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, 
 
 Jan. 13th, A. D. 1855. 
 Personally appeared before me, Jedediah M. Grant, Mayor of 
 said City, Jonathan Calkins Wright, who being duly sworn, de- 
 poseth and saith that the foregoing statements contained in his 
 report of the conversation between himself and Enoch C. March, 
 in presence of Geo. T. M. Davis, Esq., on the 26th day of June, 1844, 
 in the city of Nauvoo, is true to the best of his knowledge and 
 belief ; and further this deponent saith not. 
 
 Jonathan Calkins Wright. 
 
 Sworn to and subscribed before me, this 13th day of January, 
 1855, in Great Salt Lake City, Utah Territory. 
 
 J. M. Grant, 
 Mayor of Great Salt Lake City. 
 
 Personally appeared before me, Thomas Bullock, County Re- 
 corder in and for Great Salt Lake County, in the Territory of Utah, 
 Orrin P. Rockwell, who being first duly sworn, deposeth and saith 
 
98 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 that about the hour of 3 o'clock in the afternoon of the 27th day 
 of June, one thousand eight hundred forty-four, a short time only 
 before Governor Ford addressed the citizens of Nauvoo, he (Ford) 
 and his suit occupied an upper room in the mansion of Joseph Smith, 
 in the city of Nauvoo, when he, the said Rockwell, had of necessity 
 to enter said upper room for his hat, and as he entered the door t 
 all were sitting silent except one man, who was standing behind 
 a chair making a speech, and while in the act of dropping his right 
 hand from an uplifted position, said. 'The deed is done before this 
 time/' which were the only words I heard while in the room, for 
 on seeing me they all hushed in silence. At that time I could not 
 comprehend the meaning of the words, but in a few hours after I 
 understood them as referring to the murder of Joseph and Hyrum 
 Smith in Carthage jail. Orrin P. Rockwell, 
 
 Subscribed and sworn to before me, the fourteenth day of 
 April, 1856. Thomas Bullock. 
 
 Recorder of Great Salt Lake County. 
 
 State of Deseret, Great Salt Lake County. 
 
 Personally appeared before me, Thomas Bullock, Recorder in 
 and for Great Salt Lake County, this third day of October, one 
 thousand eight hundred and fifty, William G. Sterrett, who being 
 first duly sworn, cleposeth and saith that on the twenty-seventh day 
 of June, one thousand eight hundred and forty-four, in the city of 
 Nauvoo, county of Hancock, and State of Illinois, I heard Thomas 
 Ford, Governor of Illinois, address an assembly of several thousand 
 citizens, gathered around the frame of a building situated at the 
 corner of Water and Main streets. He reproached the people in 
 severe terms for the course they had taken in resisting the posse 
 comitatus, and among other things, "The retribution thereof will 
 be terrible, and you must make up your minds for it. I hope you 
 will not make any more trouble, but be a law-abiding people, for 
 if I have to come again it will be worse for you." 
 
 And your deponent further saith, that about half-past five in 
 the afternoon the said Governor Thomas Ford and his guard visited 
 the Temple and the workshops on the Temple block. 
 
 Mr. Alpheus Cutler, one of the building committee of the 
 Temple, sent me to watch them in and about the Temple. I was 
 close to the Governor when one of his men called him to look at one 
 of the oxen of the font in the basement of the Temple, that had 
 part of one horn broken off. The Governor stepped up to it, and 
 laying his hand on it remarked. "This is the cow with the crumply 
 horn, that we read of." One of the staff continued, "That tossed 
 the maiden all forlorn," and they all had a laugh about it. 
 
 Several of the horns were broken off the oxen by the Governor's 
 attendants. A man who stood behind me said, "I'll be damned but 
 I should like to take one of those horns home with me, to show as a 
 curiosity, but it is a pity to break them off." 
 
 After they had passed round the font, one of them remarked, 
 "This temple is a curious piece of workmanship, and it was a 
 
CONSPIRACIES AGAINST THE PROPHET'S LIFE 99 
 
 damned shame that they did not let Joe Smith finish it, so that we 
 could have seen what sort of a finish he would have put on it, for 
 it is altogether a different style of architecture from any building 
 I have ever seen or read about." Another said, "But he is dead by 
 this time, and he will never see this temple again." 
 
 I replied, "They cannot kill him until he has finished his work." 
 The Governor thereupon gave a very significant grin, when one of 
 his suit who stood next to me said, "Whether he has finished his 
 work or not by God he will not see this place again, for he's finished 
 before this time." 
 
 Another of his suit pulled out his watch and said, "Governor, 
 it's time we were off, we have been here too long already. Whether 
 you go or not, I'm going to leave, and that damned quick." The 
 Governor said, "Yes, it's time for us to be going." They then all left 
 the stone shop, mounted their horses, which were hitched near the 
 temple, and went out of the city towards Carthage by way of 
 Mulholland Street, taking with them one of the horns that the 
 company had knocked off. Further this deponent saith not. 
 
 Wm. G. Sterrett. 
 
 Sworn to and subscribed before me, this day and year first 
 above written. Thomas Bullock, 
 
 Great Salt Lake County Recorder. 
 
 JUDASES TO THE PROPHET JOSEPH 
 
 By Benj. F. Johnson 
 
 The days of tribulation were now fast approaching, for just 
 as the Prophet so often told us, so it came to pass ; and those he had 
 called around him as a cordon of safety and strength were worse 
 than a rope of sand, and were now forging his fetters. William 
 Law was his first counselor; Wilson Law, Major General of the 
 Legion; Wm. Marks, President of the stake; the Higbees, his 
 confidential attorneys, and Dr. Foster, his financial business agent. 
 All of these and many others entered into secret covenant so much 
 worse than Judas, that they would have the Prophet's life, just in 
 fulfillment of what he had said so often, publicly. With all their 
 power, they began to make a party strong enough to destroy the 
 Prophet. M,, Life's Review, p. 99. 
 
 A MODERN NERO SPEAKS 
 
 By George Q. Cannon 
 
 While the events which we have been narrating were transpir- 
 ing at Carthage, Governor Ford was at Nauvoo. He left Carthage 
 that morning (the 27th) to go there, notwithstanding he had been 
 told, both before leaving and while on the road, that it was the 
 intention of the mob to attack the jail and kill the prisoners. After 
 reaching Nauvoo, the people were called together, and he made an 
 address to them. It was one of the most infamous and insulting 
 speeches ever delivered by a man in his position to a free people, 
 and created considerable feeling among those who listened to it. 
 
100 
 
 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 Among other things he said: 
 
 "A great crime has been done by destroying the Expositor press 
 and placing the city under martial law, and a severe atonement must 
 be made, so prepare your minds for the emergency. Another cause 
 of excitement is the fact of your having so many firearms ; the pub- 
 lic are afraid that you are going to use them against the Govern- 
 ment. I know there is a great prejudice against you on account of 
 your peculiar religion, but you ought to be praying Saints, not 
 military Saints. Depend upon it, a little more misbehavior from the 
 citizens, and the torch, which is now already lighted, will be applied, 
 the city may be reduced to ashes, and extermination would inevi- 
 tably follow; and it gives me great pain to think there is danger 
 of so many innocent women and children being exterminated. If 
 anything of a serious character should befall the lives or property 
 of the persons who are prosecuting your leaders, you will be held 
 responsible. " 
 
 While speaking he stood upon the unfinished frame of a build- 
 ing on the corner below Joseph's Mansion — on the same spot from 
 which Joseph, not long before, had delivered his last address to the 
 Saints. There were a few of his men who stood beside him. While he 
 was speaking there was a concussion heard, as though it might be 
 the faint sound of thunder from afar, and one of those who stood 
 beside him heard it, looked around with some anxiety and said 
 something to Ford, who soon finished his remarks. After he de- 
 scended to the ground, he ordered his troops to get ready to return 
 to Carthage. He was in haste to get away from Nauvoo, and the 
 anxiety which he displayed excited comment at the time, though 
 none, probably, suspected the true cause of his hurry. The writer 
 was then a boy, he plainly heard the sound of which mention has 
 been made, and looked around the cloudless sky to see whence it 
 proceeded. It was about the time that the dreadful tragedy was 
 being enacted at Carthage, and as a cannon was fired by the mob, 
 on the road between Carthage and Warsaw, as a signal that the 
 bloody deed had been accomplished, it was thought that the sound 
 was the faint report of that signal. After the meeting Governor 
 Ford and one of his companions walked up Water Street in the 
 direction of Joseph's store, behind which they went and held an 
 animated conversation. Here they probably discussed the events 
 which they had reason to believe had taken place at Carthage ; for 
 the writer is firmly of the opinion, from the impressions their 
 conduct made upon him at the time, that they knew or fully believed 
 that the massacre had been accomplished. Their conversation ended, 
 they walked quickly back to the Mansion, mounted their horses 
 and rode off. 
 
 A few miles outside of Nauvoo the Governor and his party 
 met two messengers, Brothers Geo. D. Grant and David Bettisworth, 
 hastening to Nauvoo with the sad news of the murder of Joseph and 
 Hyrum and the shooting of Elder Taylor. The Governor would not 
 let them proceed, but took them back with him to Bro. Grant's 
 house, one and a half miles east of Carthage. This he did to pre- 
 vent their carrying the news, that he and the people of Carthage 
 
CONSPIRACIES AGAINST THE PROPHET'S LIFE 101 
 
 might have time to get out of harm's way, and to remove the 
 county records and public documents from that town. After he 
 reached Carthage, and had had an interview with Dr. Richards, 
 he went to the public square and advised all who were present to 
 disperse. He expected, he said, the "Mormons" would be so exas- 
 perated, that they would come and burn the town. He set them 
 the example himself, which they were not slow to follow, by riding 
 on as hard as he could in the direction of Quincy. He left Nauvoo 
 about half past six in the evening, having rode there from Carthage 
 in the morning; but he did not consider himself far enough from 
 Nauvoo to take any rest until nearly fifty miles lay between him- 
 self and that city! Then he thought he might refresh himself a 
 little; but he lost no more time than absolutely necessary and 
 pushed hastily on to his home. Instructor, Vol. 15. 
 
 FEDERAL AND STATE OFFICIALS ALSO IN CONSPIRACY 
 
 9:40 A.M. June 27, 1844: Mr. Woods and Mr. Reid called. 
 They said another consultation of the officers had taken place, 
 and the former orders of the Governor for marching to Nauvoo 
 with the whole army were countermanded. 
 
 Dr. Southwick was in the meeting, seeing what was going on. 
 He afterward told Stephen Markham that the purport of the meet- 
 ing was to take into consideration the best way to stop Joseph 
 Smith's career, as his views on government were widely circulated 
 and took like wildfire. They said if he did not get into the Presi- 
 dential chair this election, he would be sure the next time ; and if 
 Illinois and Missouri would join together and kill him, they would 
 not be brought to justice for it. There were delegates in said meet- 
 ing from every state in the Union except three, Governor Ford and 
 Captain Smith were also in the meeting. d. H. C. 6:605-6. 
 
 From reliable statements federal officials were there. The 
 mob, therefore, that killed the Prophet included federal officials, 
 state officials, members of Masonry, apostates, as well as the 
 rabble, all crying: "Away with him, his blood be upon us and our 
 children," a prototype of the scene enacted nineteen hundred years 
 ago. 
 
CHAPTER 6 
 
 Imprisonment in Liberty Prison 
 
 "MORMONISM" SURVIVES LIBERTY JAIL 
 
 By President B. H. Roberts 
 
 Liberty Jail ! How paradoxical the title ! Liberty and prison 
 are antithetical, and are supposed to have nothing in common ; but 
 when it is known that this particular prison is associated with 
 "liberty" simply because it stood in a little Missouri town of that 
 name — the county seat of Clay county, and about fifteen miles 
 directly north of Independence — the seeming- paradox vanishes. As 
 will be seen by reference to the cut of this "Mormon" historical 
 monument, Liberty prison is fallen into ruins, and some years ago 
 was entirely obliterated. The prison was built of rough-dressed 
 limestone, the surface of which was of a yellowish color. It faced 
 east and w r as about two hundred yards from the court house. Its 
 dimensions w T ere about twenty by twenty-two feet. It had a heavy 
 door in the east made strong and of considerable thickness by 
 spiking inch oak planks together. In the south side there was a 
 small opening a foot and a half square with strong iron bars, two 
 inches apart, firmly imbedded in the stones of the wall. The con- 
 tract for erecting this building was let in April, 1833, and in the 
 December following the jail was completed. It cost the county 
 six hundred dollars, Solomon Fry being the contractor. 
 
 It was within these gloomy walls that the Prophet Joseph 
 Smith endured some of the most cruel sufferings that were crowded 
 into his eventful life. For several months during the winter of 
 1838-9 he was imprisoned within the rude walls of this old struc- 
 ture, awaiting a trial for offenses charged against himself and 
 brethren during the troubles in upper Missouri in the fall of 1838. 
 Those imprisoned with him were his brother Hyrum Smith, Lyman 
 Wight, Caleb Baldwin, Alexander McRae and Sidney Rigdon; but 
 the last named prisoner was admitted to bail after a short time of 
 imprisonment, owing to the delicate state of his health. 
 
 The rise of persecution against the Latter-day Saints in Mis- 
 souri, which culminated in the expulsion of more than twelve 
 hundred of them from their homes in Jackson county, in the winter 
 of 1838; as also their subsequent settlement in several counties 
 north of the Missouri river in 1836, together with the final expul- 
 sion of some fifteen thousand of the Saints from the confines of 
 Missouri, in 1838, under the exterminating order of the governor 
 of the state, Lilburn W. Boggs, and executed by the state militia, 
 are circumstances which belong rather to the domain of history 
 than to this article. It will be sufficient here to say that the 
 measures taken by the Saints for self-protection were construed 
 into acts of aggressive warfare ; and acts of self-defense were made 
 
IMPRISONMENT IN LIBERTY PRISON 
 
 10c 
 
 LIBERTY PRISON 
 
 as it was when the Prophet Joseph was incarcerated therein. 
 
 Construction of walls of Liberty Prison which were four feet thick, 
 
104 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 criminal. It was for his connection with these measures of self- 
 protection and self-defense that the Prophet and his associates 
 were arraigned before courts where well known mobocrats sat as 
 judges, and imprisoned these men to await the slow process of 
 courts reluctant to bring them to trial lest the exposure of the pro- 
 ceedings in upper Missouri would bring reproach upon the state. 
 We are concerned here, however, only with Liberty jail and the 
 Prophet's life within its walls. His suffering was great and went 
 far beyond the irritation which comes to active spirits when con- 
 fined, unwholesome food, and the petty tyranny of unfriendly 
 guards. The Prophet could not forget that while he himself was 
 compelled to endure this enforced inactivity his own family and 
 the entire Church, stripped of their earthly possessions, were being 
 driven from the state at an inclement season of the year under 
 circumstances of extreme cruelty. It was reflecting upon these 
 conditions which wrung from him the soul-cry with which one of 
 his revelations opens: 
 
 God! where art thou? And where is the pavilion that covereth 
 thy hiding place? How long shall thy hand be stayed, and thine eye, 
 yea thy pure eye, behold from the eternal heavens, the wrongs of thy 
 people and of thy servants, and thine ear be penetrated with their 
 cries? Yea, Lord, how long shall thou suffer these wrongs and un- 
 lawful oppressions before thine heart shall be softened towards them, 
 and thy bowels be moved with compassion towards them?' 
 
 To which the Lord made answer : 
 
 My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflic- 
 tions shall be but a small moment; and then, if thou endure it well, 
 God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes; 
 thy friends do stand by thee, and they shall hail thee again, with 
 warm hearts and friendly hands; thou art not yet as Job; thy friends 
 do not contend against thee, neither charge thee with transgression, 
 as they did Job; and they who do charge thee with transgression, 
 their hope shall be blasted, and their prospects shall melt away as 
 the hoar frost melteth before the burning rays of the rising sun. 
 
 The ends of the earth shall inquire after thy name, and fools 
 shall have thee in derision, and hell shall rage against thee, while the 
 pure in heart, and the wise, and the noble, and the virtuous, shall seek 
 counsel, and authority, and blessings constantly from under thy 
 hand, and thy people shall never be turned against thee by the testi- 
 mony of traitors. 
 
 In the foregoing may be observed a prophecy which has met 
 with remarkable fulfilment — the Prophet's people have never been 
 turned against him by the testimony of traitors, however deter- 
 mined they may have been in such efforts. 
 
 It was not all gloom in Liberty prison, either, during the time 
 the Prophet and his brethren occupied it. As in all cases where the 
 servants of God are imprisoned, the sweet and peaceful influences 
 of the Holy Spirit were enjoyed. Within those gloomy prison walls 
 some important revelations were received; petitions and remon- 
 strances drafted, and letters of counsel and direction written to the 
 Saints by the Prophet and his associates. Friends visited them from 
 time to time, to assure the Prophet of their esteem and confidence. 
 The wives of some of the prisoners, including the Prophet's, visited 
 
IMPRISONMENT IN LIBERTY PRISON 105 
 
 them to inquire of their welfare and take their leave of them before 
 departing from the state. 
 
 The Prophet and his brethren having no confidence in the in- 
 tegrity of the courts of Missouri, and conscious of their own inno- 
 cence, made several efforts to escape from Liberty jail, but with- 
 out success. In April the prisoners were taken to Daviess county 
 for trial, but finding Judge Thomas C. Birch on the bench, a man 
 who had been connected with the court-martial which had con- 
 demned the prisoners to be shot in the public square at Far West, 
 but a few months before, they asked for a change of venue to 
 Marion county. This was denied, but one was given them to Boone 
 county. Judge Birch made out the mittimus without date, name or 
 place and the prisoners en route for the next place of trial, with 
 the connivance of their guards, made their escape, and ten days 
 later arrived among their friends, who meantime had gathered to 
 the city of Quincy and vicinity, in Illinois. 
 
 Improvement Era, July, 1928. 
 
 LIBERTY JAIL 
 
 By Thomas C. Romney 
 
 Liberty Jail received its name from the city in which it is 
 located. This jail or prison was constructed in the early part of 
 the last century, likely in the late twenties or early thirties. It 
 stood facing the east, twenty feet back from the street and was not 
 more than two hundred and fifty yards from the present court 
 house. The cost of the building was approximately $600.00. The 
 prison does not stand today but a dwelling house has been built over 
 a part of the foundation, nothing of the original remaining except 
 the stones on the floor of the dungeon and about three feet running 
 full length of two of the original walls. It was purchased by Wilford 
 Wood for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on June 
 19, 1939. 
 
 The place has a special significance to the Latter-day Saints, 
 for herein the Prophet Joseph Smith and five of his brethren were 
 confined over a period of nearly six months, on the false charge 
 of treason. The Elders incarcerated with him were Hyrum Smith, 
 Sidney Rigdon, Caleb Baldwin, Lyman Wight and Alexander 
 McRae. Sidney Rigdon did not serve the entire term of the other 
 brethren due to a serious illness that enabled him to get out on bail. 
 
 The indignities suffered by the Prophet and his companions 
 were indescribable. In a letter written by the Prophet, he said: 
 "We are kept under a strong guard, night and day, in a prison of 
 double walls and doors, prescribed in our liberty of conscience ; our 
 food is scant, uniform and coarse. We have been compelled to 
 sleep on the floor with straw and not blankets sufficient to keep us 
 warm; and when we have a fire we are obliged to have almost a 
 constant smoke." 
 
 His brother Hyrum said that poison was administered to them 
 three or four times, with the result that it vomited them almost to 
 death, and they would be two or three days in a torpid, stupid state ; 
 
106 
 
 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 not caring if they should pass away in death. Hyrum also declared 
 that they were offered food that appeared to be human flesh, and 
 which was referred to by one of the guards as "Mormon beef." 
 Only one of their number tasted it. Alexander McRae confirms the 
 testimony of Hyrum Smith relative to the results of poison being 
 in the food in his declaration that all that partook of it were af- 
 flicted, "some being blind two or three days, and it was only by 
 much faith and prayer that the effect was overcome." 
 
 During these days of trial, the Prophet Joseph was always the 
 one to whom the other brethren went for comfort and strength. 
 Said Brother McRae : "We never suffered ourselves to go into any 
 important measure without asking Brother Joseph to inquire of 
 the Lord in relation to it. Such was our confidence in him as a 
 prophet that when he said : "Thus saith the Lord" we were confi- 
 dent it would be as he said, "for we never found his word fail in 
 a single instance." 
 
 The Prophet's courage was sublime. In the midst of the greatest 
 afflictions imaginable, he expressed himself thus : "We are deter- 
 mined to endure tribulation as good soldiers unto the end; when 
 you read this you will know that prison walls, iron doors, screech- 
 ing hinges, guards and jailors, have not destroyed our confidence, 
 but we say, and that from experience, that they are calculated in 
 their very nature to make the soul of an honest man feel stronger 
 than the power of hell." 
 
 Yet at times, like the Master before him, he cried out against 
 the indignities heaped upon him and his people by the enemies of 
 truth. Note the anguish of spirit in these words uttered by him: 
 "And again the cries of orphans and widows would not have 
 ascended up to God against them. Nor would innocent blood have 
 stained the soil of Missouri. But oh, the relenting hand; the in- 
 humanity and murderous disposition of the people. It shades all 
 nature ; it beggars and defies all description ; it is a tale of woe, a 
 lamentable tale; yes, a sorrowful tale. It cannot be found among 
 heathens; it cannot be found among the nations where kings and 
 tyrants are enthroned; it cannot be found among the savages of 
 the wilderness; yea, and I think it cannot be found among wild 
 and ferocious beasts of the forest, that a man should be mangled 
 for sport; women robbed of all they have — their last morsel of 
 subsistence and then be violated to gratify the hellish desires of the 
 mob." 
 
 THE HISTORIC LIBERTY JAIL 
 
 By Andrew Jenson and Edward Stevenson 
 
 This morning, (September 18, 1888) early we took train for 
 Cameron, a fine city in Clinton county, where we changed cars and 
 continued our journey to Liberty, Clay county, arriving here at 
 11 A.M. Without any difficulty we found the old jail where Joseph 
 and his brethren were incarcerated from November, 1838, to April, 
 1839. By the assistance of a colored neighbor we soon succeeded 
 in gaining an entrance to the interior of the half-tumble-down 
 building, which we found very filthy indeed, filled with cobwebs and 
 
IMPRISONMENT IN LIBERTY PRISON 107 
 
 insects of numerous kinds which had their abode in the rotten 
 timbers. Mr. Theodore Shively, who has charge of the property 
 for the present owner (Mortimer Dearing, a wealthy banker of 
 Kansas City), told us that the jail had not been opened and entered 
 until today for many years. The smell from the decaying timber 
 and dead insects was something sickening, and a couple of minutes' 
 stay there made us wish for the fresh air outside. How the Prophet 
 and his fellow prisoners could endure life in such a hole for up- 
 wards of five months is more than we can comprehend. Of course 
 it was not so filthy then, but the openings for ventilation and light 
 seem to have been so small that it cannot possibly have been a 
 healthy abode for human beings at any time. We found the space 
 inside to measure about 141/2 feet from east to west, and 14 feet 
 from north to south. From the basement floor to the ceiling we 
 should judge it to be about 14 feet, two feet of which is under 
 ground. The middle floor, which, while Joseph and his fellow 
 prisoners were there, divided the space into an upper and lower 
 story, has been torn away, but we could see where it had been and 
 should say that the cell or lower room at that time measured 6V2 
 feet, and the upper about 7 feet from floor to ceiling. 
 
 Joseph and his fellow-prisoners were confined in the upper 
 room. The only openings giving light and ventilation to the cell 
 part are two very small grated windows, through the wall, one on 
 the south and another on the north side. These openings, each of 
 which has a heavy square iron bar running horizontally through 
 the middle, are two feet wide and six inches high. Above them 
 there are, near the roof, two larger openings, two feet in width 
 and one foot in height, giving light and air to the upper story. In 
 each of these two upper windows there are five square iron bars 
 standing perpendicularly and fastened very securely in the timbers 
 of the building. In fact the whole structure is a double building, 
 the inner being built of hewn oak logs about a foot square and the 
 outside of rock. The floor and ceiling are constructed of the same 
 material, thus making a huge wooden box. The rock walls are two 
 feet thick, and in building them a space of about one foot was left 
 between the rock and timber, which space was filled up with loose 
 rock. Thus it will be seen that the prison walls are virtually four 
 feet thick. Several loads of rock were also placed on top of the 
 log ceiling, in order to make escape through the roof impossible. 
 The outside dimensions of the building are : 22*4 feet long, 22 feet 
 wide and 12 feet high to the square. The door is on the east end, 
 facing the street, and is 51/2 feet high and 214 feet wide, and opens 
 to what was the upper apartment. The west gable and most of 
 the west wall have tumbled down and also part of the north wall, 
 thus leaving the timber or inside structure partly exposed. The 
 east wall and gable are in a good state of preservation, and only 
 one corner of the south wall is torn down. The building stands on 
 the west side of what is known as Main street, one-and-one-half 
 blocks north of the northwest corner of the Liberty court house 
 square. It stands back from the street about 20 feet, on an un- 
 cultivated acre lot, which the owner has offered to sell for $2,500, 
 but no one seems to care for purchasing the property. To reach 
 
108 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 the building from the street, we had to make a path through the 
 thick growth of grass and weeds. Some of the latter, being more 
 than six feet high, partly hid the building from view. 
 
 We also learned from official sources that the old jail con- 
 tinued to be used as a prison until about the year 1856, when it 
 was deemed unsafe, and for a couple of years and more Clay county 
 criminals were sent to Platte City, in the neighboring county on 
 the west, for safekeeping. In 1858 the present Liberty court house 
 was erected, with apartments for prisoners. For years afterwards 
 the old jail was utilized as an ice-house, but has not been used for 
 any purpose whatever during the last decennium or more. The 
 roof fell in years ago, and the rock wall is crumbling down more 
 and more every season, so there is every reason to believe that in 
 a few years, even if permitted to stand as it does now, there will 
 be nothing but a heap of rocks and rotten timber left to designate 
 the place where this historic building stood. We secured the aid 
 of a photographer, who took a very good negative, showing the 
 ruins as they stand at the present time. 
 
 Having made all the observations we wanted around the jail, 
 we visited a number of the old settlers of the town, among whom 
 were Col. Luke W. Burris, a county official, Ben H. Stean, a bright 
 business man, James H. Ford, an ex-official, Dr. Marsh and others. 
 Mr. Ford is 72 years old, served as deputy sheriff of Clay county 
 in 1838-39, and had Joseph Smith and fellow prisoners under his 
 charge during their incarceration, acting under the direction of 
 Samuel Hadley, the county sheriff. On many occasions he had 
 taken the prisoners out one at a time for walks around the town, 
 in order to give them an opportunity to enjoy the fresh air and get 
 better meals than the jail fare allowed. On these walks he had 
 often had lengthy conversations with the Prophet, who to him ap- 
 peared to be far above the average man in intelligence, and seemed 
 to be very deep and thoughtful, although good natured and even 
 jocular in his. manners. He had never looked upon Joseph Smith 
 and his friends in prison as real criminals, but ascribed their in- 
 carceration mainly to the excitement and bigotry of the times." 
 Mr. Ford remembered the time when the prisoners tried to break 
 jail, and said he discharged his pistol on that occasion, but hoped 
 he did not hurt anybody. This is evidently the shot fired after 
 Cyrus Daniels, one of the visiting brethren, who fell into a hole 
 just as the report of a pistol was heard, and a ball came whistling 
 by. Mr. Ford said that in stopping the prisoners from getting out 
 he also struck a heavy blow at the head of a boyish-looking man, 
 whose name he believed was Snow. 
 
 Mr. Ford also accompanied the prisoners to Gallatin, Daviess 
 county, in April, 1839, and said when they arrived there, they were 
 handed over to some half-a-dozen of the strongest and roughest 
 men of Daviess county, who at first crowded the prisoners into a 
 corner of a room, refusing to allow them any liberties at all, but 
 after a little, when they began to converse with the prisoners, they 
 became quite sociable with them, and a reputed champion wrestler 
 of Daviess county wanted to try strength with the Mormon Proph- 
 et. Joseph excused himself, saying he was a prisoner and could not 
 
 
IMPRISONMENT IN LIBERTY PRISON 109 
 
 engage in exercises of that kind under the circumstances; but 
 finally, through the solicitations of the guard and the man promis- 
 ing not to get angry if he was thrown, Joseph consented to wrestle 
 with him. Consequently a ring was made and the two stepped 
 forth. The Missourian took recourse to all the trickery known to 
 him in the art of wrestling, but was unsuccessful in his attempts 
 to throw Joseph. Finally the latter gathered up his strength, made 
 a first real attempt and threw his opponent flat upon his back in 
 a pool of water. This made the fellow mad, although he had agreed 
 not to get offended if thrown, and he wished to fight, but the guard 
 interfered and the Daviess county champion was much humiliated 
 afterwards in being made the object of considerable ridicule on the 
 part of his companions, he having previously boasted that he could 
 easily throw Joseph Smith. 
 
 We asked Mr. Ford if he knew anything about human flesh 
 having been offered the prisoners. He answered emphatically no. 
 So far as his knowledge went, such a thing was not even thought 
 of, much less done. We suggested that it might possibly have been 
 done without his knowledge, but he thought not. Samuel Tillery, 
 he said, was the man who boarded the prisoners, and he did not 
 believe him guilty of such an act. Mr. Ford was satisfied that the 
 prisoners were treated humanly throughout, and given all the at- 
 tention and privileges the law and circumstances would allow. 
 
 Infancy of the Church, pp. 25-27. 
 
 JOSEPH AND COMPANIONS GIVEN HUMAN 
 FLESH TO EAT 
 
 By Joseph A. McRae 
 
 In a letter written from Carthage Jail, Carthage, Illinois, by 
 Joseph A. McRae, dated March 7, 1939, to the Compiler of this book, 
 Brother McRae says: 
 
 Respecting the incident you mention, my paternal grandmother 
 told me many times, for I asked her to repeat to me the experi- 
 ences she had in the early period of the church, and this is what she 
 said, speaking to me: "I visited my husband several times while 
 he was in the Liberty Jail. I carried letters to and from the 
 Prophet, that were sent by his family. Your father was born at 
 Far West while your grandfather was in prison and I took him 
 to the jail to have him blessed. The Prophet blessed him and gave 
 him the name of Joseph. 
 
 "Several times when I visited, I sat at the table and ate with 
 them. The food was brought in and we all sat down together. 
 The Prophet always deferred to his brother Hyrum, and as he was 
 the eldest he had Hyrum sit at the head of the table and serve. 
 Any meat that was to be carved was carved by Hyrum. One day 
 a piece of roast meat was brought in that looked very dark, as 
 though it had been burned. Brother Hyrum took the carving 
 knife and fork, put the fork into the meat and they fell from his 
 hands. He picked up the tools again and attempted to carve the 
 meat and they fell from his hands again. After the second at- 
 
110 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 tempt, the Prophet said: 'Do not touch it, for it is human flesh!' 
 It was afterwards told that the guards boasted they had cut a 
 piece of the flesh from the thigh of an old negro and had fed it to 
 the Mormons. " 
 
 THE LOYAL AND DISLOYAL EXEMPLIFIED 
 
 About December, father Smith (the Prophet Joseph's Father) 
 gave out that there would be a prayer and fast meeting for Brother 
 Joseph and Hyrum while they were in prison, for the Lord to bless 
 them and enable them to bear the cruelties that they had to suffer 
 and pass through. My mother and my wife went to go to meeting ; 
 it was to open about sunrise in a place that was built by Joseph; 
 but when they got to the door it was locked and they thought that 
 they were at prayer, and father Smith and his folks and brother 
 John Taylor came up and they said to them, "Why do you not go 
 in?" They said that they were at prayer. "At prayer," said 
 father Smith, "no, it cannot be." So he tried the door and found 
 it locked on the inside. He said that some of the apostates had 
 got there before them and they had done it to break up their meet- 
 ing. He called to them to open the door but no one answered or 
 took any notice whatever. By this time several had gathered 
 together and some wanted to take an axe and cut the door down 
 so that they could get in but father Smith said, "No, we must not 
 do that," and Brother Taylor said that if they had deprived us of 
 meeting in the house they could not deprive us of praying to God 
 our Heavenly Father to look down in tender mercy upon His 
 servants and enable them to bear their afflictions and the wrongs 
 that they had to pass through. So father Smith said, "Let us hold 
 meeting in this house, pointing to one of the houses belonging to 
 one of the brethren and they that cannot get inside can hear out- 
 side, and we will have a good meeting, although the devil has tried 
 to frustrate our design." They did hold the meeting and they that 
 were there said that they never saw such a meeting. The Lord was 
 with them to bless and answer their prayers. They broke up 
 about four o'clock in the afternoon, and the apostates had not come 
 out yet. There was the Whitneys and Thomas B. Marsh and a great 
 many more in there. What their business was I never found out, 
 but some plan to help and destroy Mormonism. 
 
 Some few days before that a man by the name of McLellin, 
 one who had been high in the Church and Kingdom of God and 
 had held the office of one of the Twelve, he and another man went 
 into Brother Joseph's house and commenced searching over his 
 things and Sister Emma asked him why he done so, and his answer 
 was because he could. He took all the jewelry out of Joseph's 
 box and took a lot of bed clothes and in fact plundered the house 
 and took the things off. While Joseph was in prison he suffered 
 with the cold, and he sent home to his wife, Emma, to send him 
 some quilts or bed clothes for they had no fire there and he had to 
 have something to keep him from the cold. It was in the dead of 
 winter. My wife was up there when the word came and she said 
 that Sister Emma cried and said they had taken all of her bed 
 
IMPRISONMENT IN LIBERTY PRISON 111 
 
 clothes except one quilt and blanket and what could she do. So 
 my wife, with some other sisters said, send him them and we will 
 see that you shall have something to cover you and your children. 
 My wife then went home and got some bed clothes and took them 
 
 over to her. Diary of John Lowe Butler 
 
 IN A LOATHSOME DUNGEON IN MISSOURI 
 
 Prayer and Prophecies written by Joseph Smith, the Prophet, 
 while a prisoner in the jail at Liberty, Missouri, dated March 20, 
 1839. Their petitions and appeals directed to the executive officers 
 and the judiciary had failed to bring them relief. See History of the 
 Church, Vol. 3, p. 289. 
 
 God, ivhere art thou? And where is the pavilion that cov- 
 er eth thy hiding place? 
 
 Hoiv long shall thy hand be stayed, and thine eye, yea thy 
 pure eye, behold from the eternal heavens the wrongs of thy people 
 and of thy servants, and thine ear be penetrated with their cries? 
 
 Yea, Lord, how long shall they suffer these wrongs and un- 
 laivful oppressions, before thine heart shall be softened toward 
 them, and thy boivels be moved tvith compassion toward them? 
 
 Lord God Almighty, maker of heaven, earth and seas, and 
 of all things that in them are, and who controllest and subjectest 
 the devil, and the dark and benighted dominion of Sheol, — stretch 
 forth thy hand; let thine eye pierce; let thy pavilion be taken up; 
 let thy hiding place no longer be covered; let thine ear be inclined; 
 let thine heart be softened, and thy boivels moved tvith compassion 
 toward us. 
 
 Let thine anger be kindled against our enemies; and, in the 
 fury of thine heart, tvith thy sword avenge us of our wrongs. 
 
 Remember thy suffering saints, our God; and thy servants 
 will rejoice in thy name forever. 
 
 The Answer 
 
 My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine af- 
 flictions shall be but a small moment; 
 
 And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; 
 thou shalt triumph over all thy foes. 
 
 Thy friends do stand by thee, and they shall hail thee again, 
 with warm hearts and friendly hands. 
 
 Thou art not yet as Job; thy friends do not contend against 
 thee; neither charge thee with transgression, as they did Job. 
 
 The Answer to Apostates 
 
 And they who do charge thee with transgression, their hope 
 shall be blasted, and their prospects shall melt away as the hoar 
 frost melteth before the burning rays of the rising sun; 
 
 And also that God hath set his hand and seal to change the 
 times and seasons, and to blind their minds, that they may not 
 understand his marvelous workings; that he may prove them also 
 and take them in their own craftiness; 
 
 Also because their hearts are corrupted, and the things which 
 
112 
 
 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 / 
 
 
 oS l^* OstA^ S^tZZl <U 
 
 u? 
 
 stirsr**~c^ 
 
 
 
 <7>t-t* /rmr*-<, 
 
 
 
 Photographic copy of letter written by the Prophet Joseph to his wife 
 Emma while in Liberty Prison. 
 
 they are ivilling to bring upon others, and love to have others suf- 
 fer, may come upon themselves to the very uttermost; 
 
 That they may be disappointed also, and their hopes may be 
 cut off; 
 
 And not many years hence, that they and their posterity shall 
 be swept from under heaven, saith God, that not one of them is left 
 to stand by the wall. 
 
IMPRISONMENT IN LIBERTY PRISON 
 
 113 
 
 -2>^^ ^*e^t *<, _^— T^Z^ ^£^ c^ ^— c^.^^ 
 
 ^^C^< -rftXUys ^«^ fr+~ * ^— CuJ£ CL^^ZZ^, 
 
 
 Letter concluded on next 'page. 
 
 Cursed are all those that shall lift up the heel against mine 
 anointed, saith the Lord, and cry they have sinned when they have 
 not sinned before me, saith the Lord, but have done that ivhich ivas 
 meet in mine eyes, and ivhich I commanded them. 
 
 But those tvho cry transgression do it because they are the 
 servants of sin, and are the children of disobedience themselves. 
 
 And those who sivear falsely against my servants, that they 
 
114 
 
 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
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 J^T 
 
 /£-<<%^u< 
 
 oSt-t^H* 
 
 
 
 
 ^fZZf^y^i^O^ /f P - t ->»V- 
 
 
 ^T-^^Z^^^W- ^*^ iff*** 
 
 y^i >**-*cuf 
 
 rj^u. 
 
 *z 
 
 
 ^"V 
 
 
 might bring them into bondage and death — 
 
 Wo unto them; because they have offended my little ones they 
 shall be 'severed from the ordinances of mine house. 
 
 Their basket shall not be full, tJieir houses and their barns 
 shall perish, and they themselves shall be despised by those that 
 flattered them. 
 
 They shall not have right to the priesthood, nor their posterity 
 after them from generation to generation. 
 
IMPRISONMENT IN LIBERTY PRISON 115 
 
 It had been better for them that a millstone had been hanged 
 about their necks, and they drowned in the depth of the sea. 
 
 The Answer to Mobocrats 
 
 Wo unto all those that discomfort my people, and drive, and 
 murder, and testify against them, saith the Lord of Hosts; a gen- 
 eration of vipers shall not escape the damnation of hell. 
 
 Behold, mine eyes see and know all their tvorks, and I have 
 in reserve a swift judgment in the season thereof, for them all; 
 
 For there is a time appointed for every man, according as his 
 ivorks shall be. 
 
 The Answer to the Saints 
 
 God shall give unto you (the saints) knowledge by his Holy 
 Spirit, yea by the unspeakable gift of the Holy Ghost, that has not 
 been revealed since the world ivas until now; 
 
 Which our forefathers have awaited with anxious expectation 
 to be revealed in the last times, which their minds ivere pointed to, 
 by the angels, as held in reserve for the fulness of their glory; 
 
 A time to come in the which nothing shall be tuithheld, whether 
 there be one God or many Gods, they shall be manifest. 
 
 All thrones and dominions, principalities and powers, shall be 
 revealed and set forth upon all who have endured valiantly for 
 the gospel of Jesus Christ. 
 
 And also, if there be bounds set to the heavens, or to the seas; 
 or to the dry land, or to the sun, moon, or stars — 
 
 All the times of their revolutions; all the appointed days, 
 months, and years, and all the days of their days, months and years, 
 and all their glories, laivs, and set times, shall be revealed, in the 
 days of the dispensation of the fulness of times — 
 
 According to that ivhich tvas ordained in the midst of the 
 Council of the Eternal God of all other gods before this world was, 
 that should be reserved unto the finishing and the end thereof, when 
 every man shall enter into his eternal presence, and into his im- 
 mortal rest. 
 
 How long can rolling ivaters remain impure? What power 
 shall stay the heavens? As well might man stretch forth his puny 
 arm to stop the Missouri river in its decreed course, or to turn it 
 up stream, as to hinder the Almighty from pouring down knoivl- 
 edge from heaven, upon the heads of the Latter-day Saints. 
 
 Behold, there are many called, but feiv are chosen. And why 
 are they not chosen? 
 
 Because their hearts are set so much upon the things of this 
 world, and aspire to the honors of men, that they do not learn this 
 one lesson — 
 
 That the rights of the priesthood are inseparably connected 
 with the powers of heaven, and that the poivers of heaven cannot 
 be controlled nor handled only upon the principles of righteousness. 
 
 That they may be conferred upon us, it is true; but when we 
 undertake to cover our sins, or to gratify our pride, our vain am- 
 bition or to exercise control, or dominion, or compulsion, upon the 
 souls of the children of men, in any degree of unrighteousness, be- 
 
116 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 hold, the heavens tuithdraiv themselves; the Spirit of the Lord is 
 grieved; and tvhen it is withdrawn, Amen to the priesthood, or the 
 authority of that man. 
 
 Behold, ere he is aware, he is left unto himself, to kick against 
 the pricks, to persecute the saints, and to fight against God. 
 
 We have learned, by sad experience, that it is the nature and 
 disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, 
 as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unright- 
 eous dominion. 
 
 Hence many are called, but feic are chosen. 
 
 No poiver or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue 
 of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentle- 
 ness, and meekness, and by love unfeigned; 
 
 By kindness, and pure knoivledge, which shall greatly enlarge 
 the soul without hypocrisy, and ivithout guile — 
 
 Reproving betimes with sharpness, when moved upon by the 
 Holy Ghost, and then showing forth afterwards an increase of love 
 toicard him ivhom thou hast reproved, lest he esteem thee to be 
 his enemy; 
 
 That he may know that thy faithfulness is stronger than the 
 cords of death. 
 
 Let thy boivels also be full of charity toivards all men, and to 
 the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceas- 
 ingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God, 
 and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the 
 dews from heaven. 
 
 The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion, and thy 
 scepter an unchanging scepter of righteousness and truth, and thy 
 dominion shall be an everlasting dominion, and ivithout compulsory 
 means it shall flow unto thee forever and ever. D. & C. Sec. 121. 
 
 The ends of the earth shall inquire after thy name, and fools 
 shall have thee in derision, and hell shall rage against thee, 
 
 While the pure in heart, and the ivise, and the noble, and the 
 virtuous, shall seek counsel and authority and blessings constantly 
 from under thy hand, 
 
 And thy people shall never be turned against thee by the testi- 
 mony of traitors; 
 
 And although their influence shall cast thee into trouble, and 
 into bars and walls, thou shalt be had in honor; and but for a small 
 moment and thy voice shall be more terrible in the midst of thine 
 enemies, than the fierce lion, because of thy righteousness ; and thy 
 God shall stand by thee for ever and ever. 
 
 If thou art called to pass through tribulation; if thou art in 
 perils among false brethren; if thou art in perils among robbers; 
 if thou art in perils by land or by sea; 
 
 If thou art accused with all manner of false accusations; if 
 thine enemies fall upon thee; if they tear thee from the society of 
 thy father and mother and brethren and sisters; and if with a 
 drawn sicord thine enemies tear thee from the bosom of thy wife, 
 and of thine offspring, and thine elder son, although but six years 
 
IMPRISONMENT IN LIBERTY PRISON 117 
 
 of age, shall cling to thy garments, and shall say, My father, my 
 father, why can't you stay ivith us? my father, what are the 
 men going to do ivith you? and if then he shall be thrust from thee 
 by the sivord, and thou be dragged to prison, and thine enemies 
 prowl around thee like wolves for the blood of the lamb; 
 
 And if thou shouldest be cast into the pit, or into the hands of 
 murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be 
 cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if 
 fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, 
 and all the elements combine to hedge up the ivay; and above all, 
 if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, 
 know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, 
 and shall be for thy good. 
 
 The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou 
 greater than he? 
 
 Therefore, hold on thy way, and the Priesthood shall remain 
 ivith thee, for their bounds are set, they cannot pass. Thy days are 
 known, and thy years shall not be numbered less; therefore, fear 
 not ivhat man can do, for God shall be ivith you forever and ever. 
 
 D. & C. Sec. 122. 
 
 A RECORD OF MOBOCRACY TO BE KEPT 
 
 And again, ive ivould suggest for your consideration the pro- 
 priety of all the saints gathering up a knowledge of all the facts and 
 sufferings and abuses put upon them by the people of this State; 
 
 And also of all the property and amount of damages which 
 they have sustained, both of character and personal injuries, as 
 ivell as real property; 
 
 And also the names of all persons that have had a hand in their 
 oppressions, as far as they can get hold of them, and find them out; 
 
 And perhaps a committee can be appointed to find out these 
 things, and to take statements, and affidavits, and also to gather 
 up the libelous publications that are afloat; 
 
 And all that are in the magazines, and in the encyclopedias, 
 and all the libelous histories that are published, and are writing, 
 and by whom, and present the whole concatenation of diabolical 
 rascality, and nefarious and murderous impositions that have been 
 practised upon this people — 
 
 That ive may not only publish to all the world but present them 
 to the heads of government in all their dark and hellish hue, as the 
 last effort ivhich is enjoined on us by our Heavenly Father, before 
 ive can fully and completely claim that promise which shall call him 
 forth from his hiding place; and also that the whole nation may 
 be left without excuse before he can send forth the power of his 
 mighty arm. 
 
 It is an imperative duty that we owe to God, to angels, with 
 whom we shall be brought to stand, and also to ourselves, to our 
 wives and children, who have been made to bow doivn with grief, 
 sorrow, and care, under the most damning hand of murder, tyranny 
 and oppression, supported, and urged on and upheld by the iv- 
 fluence of that spirit which hath so strongly riveted the creeds of 
 
118 
 
 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 the fathers, who have inherited lies, upon the hearts of the chil- 
 dren, and filled the world ivith confusion, and has been growing 
 stronger and stronger, and is now the very mainspring of all cor- 
 ruption, and the whole earth groans under the weight of its iniquity. 
 
 It is an iron yoke; it is a strong band; they are the very hand- 
 cuffs, and chains, and shackles, and fetters of hell. 
 
 Therefore it is an imperative duty that we owe, not only to 
 our oivn ivives and children, but to the ividows and fatherless, whose 
 husbands and fathers have been murdered under its iron hand; 
 
 Which dark and blackening deeds are enough to make hell 
 itself shudder, and to stand aghast and pale, and the hands of the 
 very devil to tremble and palsy. 
 
 And also it is an imperative duty that we owe to all the rising 
 generation, and to all the pure in heart — 
 
 For there are many yet on the earth among all sets, parties, 
 and denominations, ivho are blinded by the subtle craftiness of 
 men, tvhereby they lie in wait to deceive, and who are only kept 
 from the truth because they knotu not ivhere to find it — 
 
 Therefore, that we should waste and ivear out our lives in 
 bringing to light all the hidden things of darkness, wherein we 
 knotv them; and they are truly manifest from heaven — 
 
 These should then be attended to with great earnestness. 
 
 Let no man count them as small things; for there is much 
 which lieth in futurity, pertaining to the saints, which depends 
 upon these things. 
 
 You know, brethren, that a very large ship is benefited very 
 much by a very small helm in the time of a storm, by being kept 
 ivorktvays with the tvind and the waves. 
 
 Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all 
 things that lie in our poiver; and then may we stand still with the 
 utmost assurance to see the salvation of God, and for his own arm 
 to be revealed. D. & C. Sec. 123. 
 
 
CHAPTER 7 
 
 The Only Way to Escape Martyrdom 
 
 THE PROPHET JOSEPH WAS INSPIRED TO 
 FLEE TO THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS 
 
 The Prophet Joseph did what the Lord required of him, viz: 
 appeal the cause of the Saints to the judge, to the governor and lastly 
 to the President of the nation: all to no avail. His only course now 
 was to flee to the Rocky Mountains. 
 
 The same evening that they returned from Carthage with 
 the letter from the governor, Joseph called Hyrum, Willard and 
 some others together in his upper room and, after reading the 
 governor's letter, he remarked: "There is no mercy — no mercy 
 here." Hyrum said, "No, just as sure as we fall into their hands, 
 we are dead men." Joseph replied, "Yes, what shall we do, Brother 
 Hyrum?" He replied, "I don't know." All at once Joseph's counte- 
 nance brightened up, and he said, "The way is open; it is clear to 
 my mind what to do. All they want is Hyrum and myself. There 
 is no doubt they will come here and search for us. Let them search, 
 they will not harm you in person or in property, and not even a 
 hair of your head. We will cross the river tonight, and go away to 
 the West." 
 
 At midnight, the same night, Joseph, Hyrum, and Dr. Rich- 
 ards called for 0. P. Rockwell, and at 2 a.m. all four got into a 
 boat and started to cross the Mississippi River. 0. P. Rockwell 
 rowed the boat. The boat was very leaky, and it kept Joseph, 
 Hyrum and the Doctor very busy bailing out the water with their 
 boots and shoes, to prevent it from sinking. At daybreak Joseph, 
 Hyrum and Willard landed on the Iowa side of the river, and 0. P. 
 Rockwell returned to Nauvoo for horses, that the start might be 
 made at once to the Rocky Mountains. 
 
 The same morning a posse arrived in Nauvoo to arrest Joseph 
 but as he could not be found they returned to Carthage. They said 
 that if Joseph and Hyrum were not given up that the governor 
 would send his troops and guard the town until they were found. 
 
 Messengers were sent at once across the river by Emma, en- 
 treating Joseph to return and give himself up. Others also crossed 
 the river to persuade them to return. They found Joseph, Hyrum 
 and Willard in a room by themselves ivith provisions ready for the 
 start. They begged Joseph to return, and some accused him of 
 deserting the flock when the wolves came, like the shepherd in the 
 fable. To which Joseph replied: "If my life is of no value to my 
 friends, it is of none to myself." He then turned to Hyrum and 
 said, "Brother Hyrum, you are the oldest, what shall we do?" 
 Hyrum answered, "Let us go back and give ourselves up, and see 
 
120 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 the thing out." After studying a few minutes, Joseph replied, 
 "If you go back, I shall go with you, but we will be butchered." 
 
 Improvement Era, Vol. 10:566-7. 
 
 PLANS OF THE PROPHET JOSEPH TO GO TO 
 THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS 
 
 By Historian Edward W. Tullidge 
 
 In 1880 the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day 
 Saints published The Life of Joseph the Prophet, at Piano, Illinois. 
 A portion of the "Preface" to this history states: 
 
 In presenting this work to the reading public, it has been the aim of 
 the publishers to place within the reach of those who cared to know, a more 
 correct standard from which to determine the character and work of Joseph 
 Smith, the founder, under divine direction, of the Church of Jesus Christ of 
 Latter-day Saints. It is with the consciousness that the work is not so com- 
 plete nor perfect as desirable, owing to the imperfect facilities for obtaining 
 dates and facts that were at the disposal of the publishers, that it is offered; 
 but the determination to place in the hands of friends of the Church, some- 
 thing from friendly authentic sources, has hastened its preparation and 
 publication. ***** 
 
 The publishers ask that a patient reading be accorded the work, that 
 the lack long felt may be at least partially supplied. 
 
 On pages 510 to 5.13 of this history, the following is recorded 
 by Mr. Tullidge: 
 
 "June 22, 1844. About 9 p.m. Hyrum came out of the mansion 
 and gave his hand to Reynolds Cahoon, at the same time saying: 
 'A company of men are seeking to kill my brother Joseph, and the 
 Lord has ivarned him to flee to the Rocky Mountains to save his 
 life. Good-bye, Brother Cahoon, we shall see you again.' In a few 
 moments afterwards Joseph came from his family. His tears were 
 flowing fast. He held a handkerchief to his face, and followed after 
 brother Hyrum without uttering a word.*** 
 
 "At about midnight Joseph, Hyrum, and Dr. Richards called 
 for 0. P. Rockwell at his lodging and all went up the river bank 
 until they found Aaron Johnson's boat, which they got into and 
 started about 2 a.m. to cross the Mississippi River. O. P. Rockwell 
 rowed the skiff, which was very leaky, so that it kept Joseph, 
 Hyrum and the Doctor busy bailing out the water with their boots 
 and shoes to prevent it from sinking. 
 
 " Sunday t 23rd. At daybreak arrived on the Iowa side of the 
 river. Sent 0. P. Rockwell back to Nauvoo with instructions to 
 return the next night ivith horses for Joseph and Hyrum, pass 
 them over the river in the night secretly, and be ready to start for 
 the Great Basin in the Rocky Mountains.*** 
 
 "At 1 p.m. Emma sent over 0. P. Rockwell, requesting him to 
 entreat of Joseph to come back. Reynolds Cahoon accompanied 
 him with a letter which Emma had t written to the same effect, 
 and she insisted that Cahoon should persuade Joseph to come 
 back and give himself up. When they ivent over they found Joseph, 
 Hyrum and Willard in a room by themselves, having flour and other 
 provisions on the floor ready for packing. 
 
THE ONLY WAY TO ESCAPE MARTYRDOM 
 
 121 
 
 THE NAUVOO MANSION AND NAUVOO HOUSE 
 
 The former is one block from the Mississippi River, the latter is but 
 a few feet from the River. 
 
 The top of the Old Homestead is seen to the left diagonally from the 
 Mansion and the Nauvoo House, hidden in the trees across the street. 
 
 "The graves of the Martyrs are located a few feet from the Old 
 Homestead." 
 
 "Reynolds Cahoon informed Joseph what the troops intended 
 to do, and urged upon him to give himself up, inasmuch as the 
 Governor had pledged his faith and the faith of the State to pro- 
 tect him while he underwent a legal and fair trial. Reynolds Ca- 
 hoon, L. D. Wasson and Hiram Kimball accused Joseph of coward- 
 ice for wishing to leave the people, adding that their property 
 would be destroyed, and they left without house or home — like 
 the fable, when the wolves came the shepherd ran from the flock, 
 and left the sheep to be devoured. To which Joseph replied : 'If 
 my life is of no value to my friends, it is of none to myself.' 
 
 "Joseph said to Rockwell, 'What shall I do?' Porter replied, 
 'You are the oldest and ought to know best; and as you make 
 your bed I will lay with you.' Joseph then turned to Hyrum, who 
 was talking with Cahoon, and said, 'Brother Hyrum, you are the 
 oldest, what shall we do?' Hyrum said, 'Let us go back and give 
 ourselves up, and see the thing out.' After studying a few moments 
 Joseph said, 'If you go back, I shall go with you, but we shall be 
 butchered/ Hyrum said, 'No, no; let us go back and put our trust 
 in God, and we shall not be harmed. The Lord is in it. If we live 
 or have to die, we will be reconciled to our fate.' 
 
 "About 4 p.m. Joseph, Hyrum, the Doctor and others started 
 back. While walking towards the river Joseph fell behind with 0. 
 P. Rockwell. The others shouted to him to come on. Joseph replied, 
 'It is of no use to hurry, for we are going back to be slaughtered.' 
 ***They recrossed the river at half past five. When they arrived in 
 
122 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 his mansion in Nauvoo Joseph's family surrounded him, and he 
 tarried there all night." 
 
 "Monday, 24th. ***Governor Ford having sent word by the 
 posse that those eighteen persons (Joseph, Hyrum and the others 
 included in Morrison's original warrant) should be protected by 
 the militia of the State ; they, upon the assurance of that pledge, 
 at half past six a.m. started for Carthage. Willard Richards, Daniel 
 Jones, Henry G. Sherman, Alfred Randall, James Davis, Cyrus H. 
 Wheelock, A. C. Hodge, and several other brethren, together with 
 James W. Woods as counsel, accompanying them. * * * 
 
 "Joseph paused when they got to the temple, and looked with 
 admiration first on that and then on the city, and remarked, 'This 
 is the loveliest place and the best people under the heavens.' As 
 he passed out of the city he called on Daniel H. Wells, Esq., who 
 was unwell, and on parting he said, 'Squire Wells, I wish you to 
 cherish my memory ; and not think me the worst man in the world 
 either.' " 
 
 ORIGIN OF THE PLAN FOR THE EXODUS 
 
 By Samuel W. Richards 
 
 The children and family of the Prophet, and others upon their 
 testimony, have published extensively, both through the press 
 and otherwise, that the movement of the Saints to the Rocky 
 Mountains was not any plan or purpose of the Prophet Joseph, but 
 that the plan or movement was entirely that of Brigham Young; 
 but it is well known that he and his co-workers of the twelve 
 were on missions abroad, and did not return to Nauvoo until some- 
 time after the Prophet's martyrdom, and hence knew nothing of 
 the movement planned, only as informed by others after their 
 return. The refusal of the people at a general conference to accept 
 Sidney Rigdon as their leader, and the appointment of Brigham 
 Young as Joseph Smith's successor to lead the people, placed the 
 latter where he was entitled to the inspiration of the Spirit to be 
 his guide, and this led him to act in harmony with the Prophet 
 Joseph's plans which were well known to those who had been with 
 him, and who had become the counselors and advisers to Brigham 
 Young, now chosen and standing in the Prophet Joseph's place 
 before the people. 
 
 As is well known, after the people had expressed their choice 
 in general conference that Brigham Young should be their leader 
 and adviser, measures were at once adopted to carry out what 
 was known to be the revealed will of God to Joseph concerning 
 the removal of the Saints to the mountains, which was successfully 
 accomplished, and which has placed them in the midst of pros- 
 perity ; both temporal and spiritual, giving evidence of God's ap- 
 proval. I testify to the following facts which I know personally 
 to be true. 
 
 In the winter of 1843-4, in the city of Nauvoo, Illinois, the 
 then gathering place of the people known as Latter-day Saints, 
 Joseph Smith, the Prophet and leader of that people, selected and 
 organized a company of twenty-five, mostly young men, for a 
 
THE ONLY WAY TO ESCAPE MARTYRDOM 123 
 
 pioneer company to visit the Rocky Mountains and southern Cali- 
 fornia, to find a suitable place for the Saints to remove and gather 
 to, where they could be free from those who viewed them as 
 enemies, and were constantly hunting him, as their leader, to 
 take his life. 
 
 This, then, seemed to be a necessary movement, as the people 
 had already been driven from their former homes in Missouri, 
 with a considerable loss of life attending, and a like event now 
 threatened those who were gathering in and about Nauvoo. 
 
 In view of such a condition and emergency, the Prophet 
 deemed it advisable to have the western wilderness explored, 
 before the exodus of the people from their present homes and 
 gathering place be advised. 
 
 One of the apostles of the Church, viz., Willard Richards, 
 who was with the Prophet at his martyrdom, was an almost con- 
 stant companion of the Prophet, was sent to me to learn if I 
 would be one of the number. Upon being assured that it was the 
 wish of the Prophet Joseph Smith, I readily consented, and my 
 name was placed upon the list. My former experience, under the 
 influence of that man's personal, prophetic power, would have 
 caused me to say yes to almost anything he could have asked. 
 
 Arrangements were made for the purpose, and weekly meet- 
 ings were held, during the latter part of the winter, for the pur- 
 pose of instructing the company in what would be expected of 
 them, in filling the mission for which they were now being set 
 apart. These meetings were held under the presidency of the 
 Prophet's brother, Hyrum, Joseph being so closely hunted for his 
 life that he was seldom with us. His brother Hyrum, Sidney Rig- 
 don, and those of the twelve apostles then present in the city, 
 were in attendance at these meetings, which were otherwise of a 
 strictly private nature. 
 
 At these meetings, the spirit of prophecy was abundantly en- 
 joyed by those giving instructions. Upon one occasion, after Sidney 
 Rigdon had been speaking, the president of the meeting arose and 
 said, 'The spirit weighs down mightily, there has been enough 
 said," and dismissed the meeting without further ceremony. 
 
 I had attended two or three of these meetings before I heard 
 of what the Prophet Joseph had said while selecting the parties 
 for the company, that he wanted young men of faith who could 
 go upon the mountains of Israel, and talk with God face to face 
 as Moses did upon Mount Sinai, and learn where he would have 
 his people locate for their future welfare, and the kingdom's 
 development. 
 
 Upon hearing this, the first response of my soul was, "I am 
 not the one wanted, and I will decline at once ;" but as I was about 
 to offer my resignation, a voice whispered to me, "Wait ! no hasty 
 action!" I complied with the whisperings of the voice, went home 
 and retired for the night, after first pleading most earnestly with 
 the Lord to let me know what I should do in the matter, which 
 seemed to me the most important of my life. I retired to my bed, 
 and during the four hours of my sleep, my prayer was more than 
 
124 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 answered ; and in the morning, I was ready to continue my relation 
 with the company, and prepare the outfit required for the journey. 
 I performed the journey in my sleep, and had shown to me 
 important events to transpire, and the condition of the earth itself 
 to the complete restoration of its Eden beauty and grandeur as 
 when man was first placed upon it, in a state of innocence and 
 immortality, to which condition all must come in the restoration 
 of all things spoken of by prophets and holy men, since the world 
 began. It was no ordinary dream to be obscured, and to pass away 
 from memory with the returning light of morning, but it was an 
 impress upon the spirit which left the body and traversed the 
 regions of space, while it surveyed the work of a thousand years 
 in the restoration of the earth, and man upon it ; an impress never 
 to be obliterated from the mind. 
 
 Upon returning to my natural condition of wakefulness and 
 human thought relating to my pioneer call, my whole soul re- 
 sponded: "Here am I, Lord," and I continued my attendance at 
 the meetings, and my preparations for the journey. During these 
 meetings, many things were spoken of concerning future develop- 
 ment, perfectly in accord with what had been shown to me, and 
 I felt more than ever assured of the divine approval of the Prophet 
 Joseph's determination in the matter. 
 
 When all things seemed to have been satisfactorily arranged, 
 and future movements of the company determined, Joseph took 
 his departure from Nauvoo, crossed the river, and was making 
 ready to visit awhile among the Indians, thinking it would be 
 safer than to remain in Nauvoo; and, as I understood, that he 
 might be ready to join the pioneer company when they should 
 leave, and be their leader in search of a resting place for the 
 Saints to be gathered to, as he well knew that where he should 
 make a home, the Saints would cheerfully, under his direction, 
 locate. 
 
 But this was not to be realized. As soon as it was known that 
 the Prophet had left the city, with a view of a prolonged absence, 
 a company of the brethren followed him, and insisted upon his 
 return to the city. They felt that if he went away, and it was 
 known, that not only would the work stop, but enemies who had 
 been hunting his life would at once drive the people from their 
 homes, and destroy and lay waste, as had been done in Missouri. 
 This committee said things to him that grieved him very much, 
 calling him a coward and other like reflections, so that he told 
 them, "If my life is not worth anything to you, it is not to me; 
 if I return, I go as a lamb to the slaughter." But this did not change 
 their determination that he should return, which he did, and the 
 result is well known. 
 
 This turn of affairs changed the entire program which had 
 been arranged for the pioneer company, and the Church was to 
 take their departure without the information desired, as to where 
 it would be most desirable for them to make an abiding place for 
 future growth and development. 
 
 While at Nauvoo, on his return, he addressed the people of 
 the city, as he was about to be taken to Carthage for safe keep- 
 
THE ONLY WAY TO ESCAPE MARTYRDOM 125 
 
 ing, as promised him by the Governor of the state. Here he made 
 a similar statement to the people, that he went as a lamb to the 
 slaughter, which proved so verily true, as the world well knows. 
 
 At a meeting held February 21, 1844, in the Mayor's office, 
 Nauvoo, the following names were accepted as pioneers to explore 
 the Rocky Mountains and Lower California: 
 
 Volunteers Requested to Go 
 
 Jonathan Dunham Alphonzo Young 
 
 David D. Yearsley Geo. D. Watt 
 
 Phineas H. Young James Emmett 
 
 David P. Fullmer Daniel Spencer 
 
 At a meeting on the 23rd of February, 1844, these names 
 were accepted, Joseph Smith, Hyrum, and Sidney Rigdon being 
 present : 
 
 Volunteers 
 
 Samuel Bent Joseph A. Kelting 
 
 Samuel Rolfe Daniel Avery 
 
 S. W. Richards Seth Palmer 
 
 Amos Fielding Charles Shumway 
 
 John S. Fullmer Ira S. Miles 
 
 Almon L. Fullmer Hosea Stout 
 
 Moses Smith Rufus Beach 
 Thomas Edwards 
 
 Witness my signature: 
 Witness: A. Milton Musser. Samuel W. Richards. 
 
 Improvement Era, 7:927-931. 
 
 THE PROPHET JOSEPH KNEW OF THE EXODUS 
 IN THE DAYS OF KIRTLAND 
 
 By Wilford Woodruff 
 
 I arrived in Kirtland April 26, 1834, and there met Joseph 
 and Hyrum Smith in the street. I was introduced to Joseph Smith. 
 It was the first time that I had ever seen him in my life. He in- 
 vited me to spend the Sabbath with him, and I did so. They had 
 meeting on Sunday. 
 
 On Sunday night the Prophet called on all who held the Priest- 
 hood to gather into the little log schoolhouse they had there. It 
 was a small house, perhaps fourteen feet square. But it held the 
 whole of the Priesthood of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- 
 day Saints who were then in the town of Kirtland, and who had 
 gathered together to go off in Zion's Camp. That was the first 
 time I ever saw Oliver Cowdery, or heard him speak ; the first time 
 I ever saw Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball, and the two 
 Pratts, and Orson Hyde and many others. There were no Apostles 
 in the Church then except Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery. When 
 we got together the Prophet called upon the Elders of Israel with 
 him to bear testimony of this work. Those that I have named spoke 
 and a good many I have not named bore their testimonies. When 
 
126 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 they got through the Prophet said: ''Brethren, I have been very 
 much edified and instructed in your testimonies here tonight, but 
 I want to say to you before the Lord, that you know no more con- 
 cerning the destinies of this Church and Kingdom than a babe upon 
 its mother's lap. You don't comprehend it." I was rather surprised. 
 He said: "It is only a little handful of Priesthood you see here 
 tonight, but this Church will fill North and South America — it will 
 fill the world." Among other things he said : "It will fill the Rocky 
 Mountains. There will be tens of thousands of Latter-day Saints 
 who will be gathered in the Rocky Mountains and there they will 
 open the door for the establishing of the Gospel among the Laman- 
 ites who ivill receive the Gospel and their endowments, and the 
 blessings of God. This people ivill go into the Rocky Mountains; 
 they ivill there build Temples to the Most High. They will raise up 
 a posterity there, and the Latter-day Saints who dwell in these 
 mountains will stand in the flesh until the coming of the Son of 
 Man. The Son of Man will come to them while in the Rocky Moun- 
 tains. General Conference Report, April 8, 1898, p. 57. 
 
 THE PROPHET JOSEPH PROPHESIED THE EXODUS 
 OF THE SAINTS WESTWARD 
 
 Saturday, August 6, 1842 : Passed over the river to Montrose, 
 Iowa, in company with General Adams, Colonel Brewer, and others, 
 and witnessed the installation of the officers of the Rising Sun 
 Lodge Ancient York Masons, at Montrose, by General James 
 Adams, Deputy Grand-Master of Illinois. While the Deputy Grand- 
 Master was engaged in giving the requisite instructions to the 
 Master-elect, I had a conversation with a number of brethren in 
 the shade of the building on the subject of our persecutions in Mis- 
 souri and the constant annoyance which has followed us since we 
 were driven from that state. / prophesied that the Saints would 
 continue to suffer much affliction and would be driven to the Rocky 
 Mountains; many would apostatize, others would be put to death 
 by our persecutors or lose their lives in consequence of exposure 
 or disease, and some of you will live to go and assist in making 
 settlements and build cities and see the Saints become a mighty 
 people in the midst of the Rocky Mountains. d. H. C. 5:8-3. 
 
 THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS — A PLACE OF REFUGE 
 AND DESTINY FOR SAINTS 
 
 By Samuel W. Richards 
 
 My brethren, sisters and friends: Quite unexpected to me, 
 prior to coming into this meeting, I have been requested to say 
 a few words to you on some matters touching my history and 
 experience with the Prophet Joseph Smith. I am thankful that 
 I can say I was quite intimate with him while he was living upon 
 the earth. There is a little experience I had with him that per- 
 haps no other person living today could relate. In the winter of 
 1843-44, about six months prior to the death of the Prophet Joseph 
 
THE ONLY WAY TO ESCAPE MARTYRDOM 127 
 
 Smith, a messenger was sent to me from Nauvoo to ask if I would 
 be one of a company of pioneers to explore the Rocky Mountains 
 and to find a place for the Church to go. That request came from 
 the Prophet Joseph Smith. At the time I thought it a little 
 strange that I should be called upon for a mission of this kind, 
 as I was but a young man, in my teens; but my acquaintance up 
 to that time with the Prophet Joseph was such that I could not 
 say no. I replied, "Yes, I will do anything that the Prophet Joseph 
 wants me to do, that is in my power to do." Consequently, I gave 
 my name in to be one of a company of twenty-four young men 
 who were selected to travel and explore the Rocky Mountains and 
 find a place for the Church to go to, because the persecution was 
 getting so strong then in Nauvoo that the Prophet Joseph fore- 
 saw that the Church would have to leave, retire from the civilized 
 world, and go into the mountains. This was then a wild country. 
 
 I am reminded that when I was in Europe, in the early fifties, 
 it was reported to the British Government that I was emigrating 
 many people from Great Britain into a wild country, where they 
 were liable to perish, and it was thought that this emigration 
 ought to be stopped. Because of this I was ordered to appear in 
 London and give an account of what I was doing. I was then pre- 
 siding over the British Mission, and emigrated many people to 
 this country. I responded to this call, and spent about five hours 
 before a committee of sixteen members of Parliament telling them 
 what I was doing. I had been to this valley myself and knew 
 what it was. I told them that I was sending people to a country 
 where they could own a farm and be as independent in their liv- 
 ing as the lords and peers were there. I satisfied them, and they 
 all shook hands with me at the end of our interview and wished 
 me well, and I was invited by a number of them to come again 
 to London and spend some time with them. I speak of this to 
 show that the feeling of the people at that time was that this 
 was a wild country, and we were coming here to perish. 
 
 It was the purpose of the Prophet Joseph to come here and 
 locate with his people. He organized this company and held weekly 
 meetings with them for several weeks in Nauvoo, and when he 
 had them sufficiently instructed, as he thought, to properly under- 
 stand what was to be the character of their mission and fit-out, 
 he went across the river and made a start to go toward the moun- 
 tains. It was his intention to go to the mountains with us, as a 
 company of pioneers. But he was followed by those who did not 
 like the idea of his leaving, and while they were pleading with him 
 to return, he told them, "If I go back, I go as a lamb to the 
 slaughter/' Nevertheless, they determined he should return, and 
 he went back to Nauvoo. From there he went to Carthage, and 
 we all know the history of what followed. 
 
 Suffice it to say, I attended four meetings of this company 
 and at one of them, which was in charge of Hyrum Smith, and 
 three or four of the Twelve were also present, it was said that 
 Joseph the Prophet had remarked that he wanted young men for 
 that mission who could go upon the mountains and talk with God 
 face to face, as Moses did upon Mount Sinai. When I heard that 
 

 © 
 
 %l 
 
 # 
 
NAUVOO IN 1950. 
 
 1. Lot where Temple was erected. 
 
 2. Boat landing in days of Nauvoo. 
 
 3. Mississippi River. 
 
 4. Main St. (Now— 1950— plotted as 1th St. The "Nau- 
 voo Mansion" is hidden in the trees on Main and 
 Water Streets, one block from the river. See air 
 
 photo on page 121. 
 
 5. Young St. — Same now as in 1846. 
 
 G. Mulholland St. — Same now as in 1846. 
 Is now the business street of Nauvoo. 
 
130 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 statement, I felt in my soul that I was not the one to go; and 
 just before the meeting closed I got up out of my seat for the 
 purpose of going to Brother Hyrum Smith and telling him I was 
 not the one to go for I did not feel that I could meet these condi- 
 tions, but as I got up there was a voice came to me and I heard 
 it distinctly as from one standing by my side, saying, "Stop; rest 
 awhile. " I took my seat again, and instead of telling the Prophet 
 Hyrum that I did not feel I could go, I went home, and before re- 
 tiring I knelt by my bedside and prayed to my heavenly Father. 
 If I ever prayed in earnest it was then, that I might know before 
 morning whether I was a suitable one to go on that expedition, 
 under the terms specified. The idea of going into the mountains 
 and talking with God face to face, as Moses did on Mount Sinai, 
 was more than I, as a boy, could think of encountering. 
 
 No one perhaps need wonder that I should shrink from such 
 a consideration. I retired to my bed and remained there about 
 four hours, and during that four hours I got the answer to my 
 prayer, and when I awoke I was prepared to go upon that journey 
 and do just as the Prophet wanted me to do. During that four 
 hours I saw all that I expect to see if I should live a thousand 
 years. Someone came to me and told me where to go, and I per- 
 formed that journey that night while I lay upon my bed. I came 
 to this valley first. I don't know how I got here, but I went down 
 through these valleys and into Southern California. It had been 
 stated that possibly we might have to go that far. When I came 
 here I had to pass four sentinels, and in passing them I gave a 
 countersign, which I got direct from heaven at the time it was 
 needed. I passed them all, and went on down into Southern Cali- 
 fornia. Then I was prompted to go farther, and I went into the 
 northern part of Mexico. I returned from there to Jackson 
 County, Missouri, and there I stayed and helped build the temple. 
 I saw the temple thoroughly completed; in fact, I labored upon it 
 until it was completed. When this was done, the vision continued, 
 and I went and laid down my body in the ground, and my spirit 
 left this tabernacle. Then I traversed this continent from end to 
 end. I saw the Garden of Eden as it was in the beginning and as 
 it will be restored again. It was a land filled with verdure and 
 vegetation, and with all manner of fruits, on which man was liv- 
 ing. I saw it filled with cities, towns and villages, and people 
 happy, living under the administration of divine providence. It 
 was a Garden of Eden in very deed. 
 
 Now, all this I saw while I was sleeping, and it was so im- 
 pressed upon me that it can never be forgotten. I saw that this 
 was the result of the Latter-day Saints coming to these valleys 
 of the mountains and following the direction that the Prophet 
 Joseph indicated. I could tell a long story about this matter, if 
 I had the time to do it, but it is not best that I should. I wish, 
 however, to make the statement distinctly, that this coming to 
 the mountains of the Saints of God and establishing themselves 
 here was under the special direction of the Prophet Joseph Smith. 
 Although there are those who say to the contrary, this is my 
 testimony. The Prophet Joseph Smith had all this planned, and 
 
THE ONLY WAY TO ESCAPE MARTYRDOM 
 
 131 
 
 THE NAUVOO MANSION. 
 
 The home of the Prophet Joseph Smith at the time of the martyrdom. 
 
 vi r 
 
 THE OLD HOMESTEAD 
 
 in which the Prophet Joseph lived prior to moving into the Nauvoo Mansion. 
 
132 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 if he had been allowed to have had his way, I believe he might 
 have been with us even today. He would certainly have gone with 
 that company to these mountains and have located the people. 
 I was one of that company, and I think I have the names of the 
 rest. However, the conditions became so severe at Nauvoo that 
 the people had to pick up and leave in a body, before there was 
 time for this company to make the proposed exploration. The 
 Prophet Joseph and his brother, Hyrum, were martyred in Carth- 
 age, and the mob would not let the people remain in Nauvoo. 
 
 These are the facts in regard to this matter, and I am proud 
 and thankful that I know of these things, and am glad that the 
 Saints are building up these valleys of the mountains as I saw 
 them built up in vision. If the people of God will only go on and 
 keep His commandments, the time will come when the whole land 
 will be filled with towns, cities, and villages, and the earth will 
 bring forth all that is necessary for the support and sustenance 
 of the people thereof. Amen. 
 
 General Conference Report, April, 1905. 
 
 PROPHECY HELD IN ABEYANCE 
 
 By O. B. Huntington 
 
 My father was living in a good hewed log house in 1840 when 
 one morning as the family all sat at breakfast old Father Joseph 
 Smith, the first Patriarch of the Church and father of the Prophet 
 Joseph, came in and sat down by the fireplace, after declining 
 to take breakfast with us, and there he sat some little time in 
 silence looking steadily in the fire. At length he observed that 
 we had been driven from Missouri to this place; and with some 
 passing comments, he then asked this question: "And how long, 
 Brother Huntington, do you think we will stay here?" As he 
 asked this question I noticed a strange, good-natured expression 
 creep over his whole being — an air of mysterious joy. Father 
 answered, after just a moment's hesitation, "Well, Father Smith, 
 I can't begin to imagine." "We will just stay here seven years," 
 he answered. "The Lord has told Joseph so — just seven years," 
 he repeated. "Now this is not to be made public; I would not 
 like to have this word go any further," said the Patriarch, who 
 leaned and relied upon his son Joseph in all spiritual matters as 
 much as boys generally do upon their parents for temporalities. 
 There were then two or three minutes of perfect silence. Then 
 the old gentleman with more apparent secret joy and caution in 
 his countenance, said, "And where do you think we will go to when 
 we leave here, Brother Huntington?" Father did not pretend to 
 guess; unless we went back to Jackson county. "No," said the 
 old Patriarch, his whole being seeming to be alive with anima- 
 tion. "The Lord has told Joseph that when we leave here we will 
 go into the Rocky Mountains; right into the midst of the La- 
 manites." 
 
 This information filled our hearts with unspeakable joy, for 
 we knew that the Book of Mormon and this gospel had been 
 brought to light more for the remnants of Jacob upon this conti- 
 
THE ONLY WAY TO ESCAPE MARTYRDOM 133 
 
 nent than for the Gentiles. Father Smith again enjoined upon 
 us profound secrecy in this matter and I don't think it was ever 
 uttered by one of Father Huntington's family. The history of 
 Nauvoo shows that we located in Nauvoo in 1839, and left it 
 in 1846. 
 
 The Church did move to the Rocky Mountains into the midst 
 of the Indians or Lamanites — or more properly speaking the 
 Jews — and here we expect to live until we move to the spirit land 
 or the Lord moves us somewhere else. 
 
 Young Woman's Journal, Vol. 2:314-15. 
 
 ANSON CALL'S TESTIMONY AS RELATED BY 
 HISTORIAN EDWARD W. TULLIDGE 
 
 It is thought important that the following statement from a 
 biography of Anson Call, 'by Edward Tullidge, should be made part 
 of the history of this prophetic incident, as doubtless the testimony 
 of Brother Call relates to the same incident as that described in the 
 Prophet's text of the History, notwithstanding some confusion of 
 dates that exists in the Call testimony. It will be seen that the 
 Prophet fixes the date of his prophecy on Saturday, the 6th of August, 
 1842. In Whitney's History of Utah, Vol. IV — (Biographical section 
 of the history, p. 143), the date on which Call heard the prophecy, 
 is given as the 8th of August, 1842. While in Tullidge's biography of 
 Call the date is given as the 14th of July, 1843, evidently in error. 
 There is no entry in the Prophet's journal for the 8th of August, 
 1842, and the entries for the 8th of August, 1843, and the 14th of 
 July 1843, relate to matters of quite a different character. Tullidge, in 
 relating Anson Call's recollection of the incident also says that J. C. 
 Bennett was present on the occasion, which must also be an error, as 
 the rupture between Bennett and the Church and its authorities 
 occurred and he had left Nauvoo previous to the 6th of August, 1842. 
 In the Call statement as published by Tullidge, the name of Mr. 
 Adams, the Deputy Grand Master Mason in charge of the ceremonies, 
 is given as George, it should be James. 
 
 On the 14th of July, 1843 (this date is in error. See footnote 
 on page 85, vol. 5 of Documentary History of the Church), with 
 quite a number of his brethren, he crossed the Mississippi River 
 to the town of Montrose, to be present at the installment of the 
 masonic lodge of the "Rising Sun." A block school house had 
 been prepared with shade in front, under which was a barrel of 
 ice water. Judge George Adams was the highest masonic author- 
 ity in the state of Illinois and had been sent there to organize 
 this lodge. He, Hyrum Smith and J. C. Bennett, being high 
 Masons, went into the house to perform some ceremonies which 
 the others were not entitled to witness. These, including Joseph 
 Smith, remained under the bowery. Joseph, as he was tasting the 
 cold water, warned the brethren not to be too free with it. With 
 the tumbler still in his hand, he prophesied that the Saints would 
 yet go to the Rocky Mountains; and, said he, "this tuater tastes 
 much like that of the crystal streams that are running from the 
 snow capped mountains." We will let Mr. Call describe this 
 prophetic scene: "I had before seen him in a vision and now saw 
 while he was talking, his countenance changed to white; not the 
 deadly white of a bloodless face, but a living brilliant white. He 
 
134 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 seemed absorbed in gazing- at something at a great distance and 
 said, 'I am gazing upon the valleys of those mountains.' This was 
 followed by a vivid description of the scenery of these moun- 
 tains as I have since become acquainted with it. Pointing to 
 Shadrach Roundy and others, he said: There are some men here 
 who shall do a great work in that land/ Pointing to me, he said: 
 'There is Anson, he shall go and shall assist in building cities 
 from one end of the country to the other, and you (rather ex- 
 tending the idea to all those he had spoken of) shall perform as 
 great a work as has been done by man, so that the nations of 
 the earth shall be astonished and many of them will be gathered 
 in that land and assist in building cities and temples, and Israel 
 shall be made to rejoice.' 
 
 "It is impossible to represent in words this scene which is still 
 vivid in my mind, of the grandeur of Joseph's appearance, his 
 beautiful descriptions of this land and his wonderful prophetic 
 utterances as they emanated from the glorious inspirations that 
 overshadowed him. There was a force and power in his exclama- 
 tions of which the following is but a faint echo: 'Oh the beauty 
 of those snow capped mountains. The cool refreshing streams 
 that are running down through those mountains gorges.' Then 
 gazing in another direction, as if there was a change in locality: 
 'Oh the scenes that this people will pass through! The dead that 
 will lay between here and there.' Then turning in another direc- 
 tion as if the scene had again changed: 'Oh the apostasy that 
 will take place before my brethren reach that land!' But he con- 
 tinued: The priesthood shall prevail over all its enemies, triumph 
 over the devil and be established upon the earth never more to be 
 thrown down.' He then charged us with great force and power, 
 to be faithful in those things that had been and should be com- 
 mitted to our charge, with the promise of all the blessings that 
 the priesthood could bestow. 'Remember these things and treas- 
 ure them up. Amen.' 
 
 "Although I felt that Joseph was wrapt in vision, and that 
 his voice was the voice of God, little did I then realize the vast 
 significance of those prophetic declarations compared with what 
 I do now, with the experiences of the forty-five years that have 
 intervened since they were uttered. As he drew to a close the 
 door of the house opened and we entered the building to transact 
 the business for which we had gathered. It is impossible to ex- 
 press the feelings that came over me when Joseph prophesied 
 upon my head. I queried in my head how it was possible for me 
 to accomplish this great work with the persecution, the poverty 
 and sickness that I had thus far to contend with. These proph- 
 ecies were ever fresh in my mind until in the process of fulfill- 
 ment I arrived in these mountains. When misfortune overtook 
 me they buoyed me up, for I claimed the promises of the Lord 
 and they strengthened me. After arriving here I still expected 
 their fulfillment. The remainder of the narrative will witness 
 that my expectations have not been in vain." 
 
 Tullidge's Histories of Utah, Vol. 2, Biographical Appendix pp. 271-2. 
 
THE ONLY WAY TO ESCAPE MARTYRDOM 135 
 
 SPIRITUAL GIFT ENJOYED IN THE TEMPLE 
 
 In the January 5, 1946, issue of the Deseret News, Church 
 Section, compiled by Preston Nibley, events that occurred in the Nau- 
 voo Temple under date of December 27 and 30th, 1845, are recorded. 
 In the Journal History, President Brigham Young, under date of 
 the 27th, states: 
 
 "In the evening I went to the Temple and met with brothers 
 Heber C. Kimball, Parley P. Pratt, Orson Pratt, Amasa Lyman 
 and George A. Smith. We retired to my room for prayer at 
 6:45 p. m. 
 
 "After prayers, a general conversation ensued. The visit of 
 the marshal and the emigration to California were the promi- 
 nent topics. Elder Parley P. Pratt read from Hasting's account of 
 California. ,, 
 
 Under date of December 30th, President Young's account 
 continues: 
 
 "The labors of the day having been brought to a close at so 
 early an hour, viz., eight thirty, it was thought proper to have a 
 little season of recreation. Accordingly, Brother Hanson was 
 invited to produce his violin, which he did and played several 
 lively airs, accompanied by Elisha Averett on his flute; among 
 others some very good lively dancing tunes. This was too much 
 for the gravity of Brother Joseph Young, who indulged in danc- 
 ing a hornpipe, and was soon joined by several others, and before 
 the dance was over, several French fours were indulged in. The 
 first was opened by myself, with Sister Whitney, and Elder Kim- 
 ball and partner. The spirit of dancing was increased until the 
 whole floor was covered with dancers ; and while we danced be- 
 fore the Lord, we shook the dust from our feet as a testimony 
 against this nation. 
 
 "After the dancing had continued about an hour, several 
 excellent songs were sung, in which the brethren and sisters 
 joined. The "Upper California" was sung by Erastus Snow, after 
 which I called upon Sister Whitney, who stood up, and invoking 
 the gift of tongues, sang a beautiful song of Zion in tongues. The 
 interpretation was given by her husband, Bishop Whitney, and 
 me. It related to our efforts to build this house to the privilege 
 we now have of meeting in it, our departure shortly to the coun- 
 try of the Lamanites, their rejoicing when they hear the Gospel, 
 and of the gathering of Israel. 
 
 MODERN ISRAEL, DRIVEN FROM CIVILIZATION, 
 LED OF GOD WESTWARD 
 
 By Erastus Snow 
 
 When the pioneers left the confines of civilization, we were 
 not seeking a country on the Pacific, neither a country to the north 
 or south ive were seeking a country tvhich had been pointed out by 
 the Prophet Joseph Smith in the midst of the Rocky Mountains, in 
 the interior of the great North American continent. When the 
 leader of that noble band of pioneers set out with his little 
 
136 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 company from the Missouri River, they went, as did Abraham, 
 when he left his father's house — knowing not whither he went — 
 only God had said, Go out from your father's house unto a land 
 which I will show you. That band of pioneers went out, not know- 
 ing whither they went, only they knew that God had commanded 
 them to go into a land which He would show them. And whenever 
 the Prophet Brigham Young, the leader of that band of Pioneers, 
 was asked the question: "Whither goes thou?" the only answer he 
 could give was : "I ivill show you tuhen ive come to it." 
 
 The prayers of that band of pioneers, offered up day and 
 night, continually unto God was to lead us, as He had promised, 
 unto a land which, by the mouth of His servant Joseph, He had 
 declared He would give us for an inheritance. Said the Prophet 
 Brigham: "I have seen it, I have seen it in vision, and ivhen my 
 natural eyes behold it, I shall know it." They, therefore, like 
 Abraham of old, journeying by faith, knowing not whither they 
 went, only knew that God had called them to go out from among 
 their brethren, who had hated, despised and persecuted them, and 
 driven them from their possessions, and would not that they should 
 dwell among them. And ivhen they reached this land the Prophet 
 Brigham said: "This is the place where I, in vision, saiu the ark of 
 the Lord resting; this is the place whereon we will plant the soles 
 of our feet, and where the Lord ivill place His name amongst His 
 people." And he said to that band of pioneers : "Organize your ex- 
 ploring parties, one to go south, another north, and another to go 
 west, and search out the land, in the length and the breadth thereof, 
 learn the facilities for settlement, for grazing, water, timber, soil 
 and climate that we may be able to report to our brethren when 
 we return ;" and when the parties were organized, said he unto 
 them: "You will find many excellent places for settlement. On 
 every hand in these mountains, are locations where the people of 
 God may dwell, but when you return from the south, west and 
 north to this place, you will say with me, This is the place which 
 the Lord has chosen for us to commence our settlements, and from 
 this place we shall spread abroad and possess the land !' " 
 
 J. D. 16:207. 
 
 WHY THE CHURCH MOVED WEST 
 
 In reply to the assertion of the Lanioni Herald that Joseph 
 Smith the Prophet knew nothing about the projected expedition to 
 the Rocky Mountains, and did not predict the movement of the Saints 
 to this region, we have already made some quotations from Church 
 history and now proceed to give others. There are living witnesses 
 in Utah to the truth of that which is found in the written records, 
 and their testimony remains incontrovertible. 
 
 The following extracts from the history are all taken from the 
 Millennial Star as they previously appeared in the Deseret News, 
 in regular order according to their dates, and are integral parts of 
 the complete record, the original manuscript being preserved in the 
 office of the Church Historian in this city: 
 
 Under date of Tuesday, February 20, 1844, the following occurs 
 in the history: 
 
 "At 10 a. m., went to my office, where the Twelve Apostles 
 
THE ONLY WAY TO ESCAPE MARTYRDOM 137 
 
 and some others met in council with Brothers Mitchell Curtis and 
 Stephen Curtis, who left the Pinery on Black river, the 1st of 
 January. They were sent by Lyman Wight and Bishop Miller to 
 know whether Lyman should preach to the Indians, the Meno- 
 minees and Chippeways having requested it. ... I instructed the 
 Twelve Apostles to send out a delegation and investigate the 
 locations of California and Oregon, and hunt out a good location 
 where we can remove to after the Temple is completed and where 
 we can build a city in a day, and have a government of our own, 
 get up into the mountains where the devil cannot dig us out, and 
 live in a healthy climate where we can live as old as we have a 
 mind to." 
 
 Wednesday, February, 21st. — "Council of the Twelve met 
 in my office. I insert the minutes: 
 
 "At a meeting of the Twelve at the mayor's office. Nauvoo, 
 February 21, 1844, seven o'clock p. m., B. Young, Parley P. Pratt, 
 0. Pratt, W. Woodruff, J. Taylor, Geo. A. Smith, W. Richards, 
 and four others being present, called by previous notice, by in- 
 struction of President Joseph Smith, on the 20th inst., for the 
 purpose of selecting a company to explore Oregon and California, 
 and select a site for a new city for the Saints. 
 
 "Jonathan Dunham, Phinehas H. Young, David D. Yearsley 
 and David Fulmer volunteered to go ; and Alphonzo Young, James 
 Emmett, George D. Watt and Daniel Spencer were requested to 
 go. Voted, the above persons to be notified to meet with the Council 
 on Friday evening next at the Assembly room." — Willard Rich- 
 ards, clerk. 
 
 Friday, February 23rd. — "Met with the Twelve in the As- 
 sembly room concerning the Oregon and California exploring 
 expedition. Hyrum and Sidney present. I told them I wanted an 
 exploration of all that mountain country. Perhaps it would be 
 best to go direct to Sante Fe. Send twenty-five men; let them 
 preach the Gospel wherever they go. Let that man go that can 
 raise $500, a good horse and mule, a double barrel gun, one barrel 
 rifle and other smooth-bore, a saddle and bridle, a pair of revolv- 
 ing pistols, bowie knife and a good sabre. Appoint a leader and 
 let him beat up for volunteers. I want every man who goes to be 
 a king and a priest. When he gets to the mountains he may want 
 to talk with his God. When with the savage nations have power 
 to govern, etc. If we don't get volunteers, wait till after the 
 election." 
 
 "Geo. D. Watt said, 'Gentlemen, I shall go.' Samuel Bent vol- 
 unteered; Jos. A. Kelting, ditto; David Fulmer, ditto; James Em- 
 mett, ditto; Daniel Spencer, ditto; Samuel Rolfe, ditto; Daniel 
 Avery, ditto; Samuel W. Richards, ditto." 
 
 Saturday, February 24th. "At home. Had an interview with 
 Brother Phelps at 9 o'clock. Seth Palmer, Amos Fielding, Charles 
 Shumway and John S. Fullmer volunteered to go to Oregon and 
 California." 
 
 Sunday, February 25th. "I preached at the Temple block. 
 Hyrum also preached. Evening I attended prayer meeting in 
 the assembly room. I gave some important instructions and 
 
138 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 prophesied that within five years we should be out of the power 
 of our old enemies, whether they were apostates or of the world, 
 and told the brethren to record it, that when it comes to pass 
 they need not say they had forgotten the saying." 
 
 Monday, February 26th. "Ira S. Miles volunteered to join 
 the mountain exploring expedition. ,, 
 
 Tuesday, February 27th. "Almon L. Fullmer and Hosea 
 Stout volunteered to go on the western exploring expedition." 
 
 Wednesday, February 28th. "Thomas S. Edwards volunteered 
 to join the exploring expedition to the Rocky Mountains." 
 
 Thursday, February 29th. "Moses Smith and Rufus Beach 
 volunteered to join the Oregon exploring expedition." 
 
 Under date of Monday, March 4th, Joseph Smith's journal 
 says: "I instructed a letter to be writtten to James Arlington 
 Bennett to consult him on the subject of nominating him for Vice 
 President. I here insert the letter:" 
 
 The letter, which appears in full in the journal of Joseph 
 Smith, contains this paragraph: 
 
 "All is right at Nauvoo. We are now fitting out a noble com- 
 pany to explore Oregon and California, and progressing rapidly 
 with the great Temple, which we expect to roof this season." 
 
 Under date of March 11th, 1844, we find the following: 
 
 "At home till 9. Then spent the day in council in the lodge 
 room over Henry Miller's house. Present: Joseph Smith, Hyrum 
 Smith, Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Willard Richards, Par- 
 ley P. Pratt, Orson Pratt, John Taylor, Geo. A. Smith, William 
 W. Phelps, John M. Bernhisel, Lucian Woodworth, Geo. Miller, 
 Alexander Badlam, Peter Haws, Erastus Snow, Reynolds Cahoon, 
 Amos Fielding, Alpheus Cutler, Levi Richards, Newell K. Whit- 
 ney, Lorenzo D. Wasson, and William Clayton, who I organized 
 into a special council to take into consideration the subject matter 
 contained in the above letters, (received from a committee at 
 Black River Falls), and also the best policy for this people to 
 adopt to obtain their rights from the nation and insure protec- 
 tion for themselves and children, and to secure a resting place in 
 the mountains or some uninhabited region, where we can enjoy 
 the liberty of conscience guaranteed to us by the Constitution 
 of our country, rendered doubly sacred by the precious blood of 
 our fathers, and denied to us by the present authorities who have 
 smuggled themselves into power in the State and nation." 
 
 On March 26th the Prophet Joseph Smith addressed a me- 
 morial to the Congress of the United States, asking for authority 
 to raise a company of 100,000 men in the United States, to pro- 
 ceed to the West in the neighborhood of Oregon and California, 
 the purpose of which is thus described in the memorial: 
 
 "To open the vast region of the unpeopled West and South 
 to our enlightened and enterprising yeomanry; to protect them in 
 their researches; to secure them in their locations, and thus 
 strengthen the government and enlarge her borders; to extend 
 her influence; to inspire the nations with the spirit of freedom 
 and win them to her standard; to promote intelligence; to culti- 
 vate and establish peace among all with whom we may have inter- 
 
THE ONLY WAY TO ESCAPE MARTYRDOM 139 
 
 course as neighbors; to settle all existing difficulties among those 
 not organized into an acknowledged government bordering upon 
 the United States and Territories; to save the national revenue 
 in the nation's coffers ; to supersede the necessity of a standing 
 army on our western and southern frontiers; to create and main- 
 tain the principles of peace and suppress mobs, insurrections and 
 oppression in Oregon and all lands bordering upon the United 
 States and not incorporated into any acknowledged national gov- 
 ernment; to explore the unexplored regions of our continent; to 
 open new fields of enterprise for our citizens and protect them 
 therein; to search out the antiquities of the land, and thereby 
 promote the arts and sciences, and general information; to amal- 
 gamate the feelings of all with whom we may have intercourse 
 on the principles of equity, liberty, justice, humanity, and benev- 
 olence; to break down tyranny and oppression, and exalt the 
 standard of universal peace." 
 
 On March 30th, Elder Orson Hyde was appointed by the city 
 council of Nauvoo, to carry the memorial and an ordinance ac- 
 companying it to Washington, for the consideration of both 
 houses of Congress. This appointment appeared of record on the 
 City Council minutes, with the seal of the corporation, signed by 
 Joseph Smith, Mayor, and Willard Richards, recorder. 
 
 Elder Orson Hyde made a lengthy report of his labors to the 
 General Council dated Washington, D. C, April 26th. In speaking 
 of the difficulties in the way because of the personal desires and 
 ambitions of prominent men, he says: 
 
 "Now all these politicians rely upon the arm of our govern- 
 ment to protect them there; and if government were to pass an 
 act establishing a territorial government west of the Rocky 
 Mountains there would be at once a tremendous rush of emigra- 
 tion. But if government pass no act in relation to it, these men 
 have not stamina or sufficient confidence in themselves and their 
 own resources to hazard the enterprise." 
 
 In the same communication, Orson Hyde states that Orson 
 Pratt was with him, and they drafted a bill to present to Congress, 
 and he goes on to say: 
 
 "In case of a removal to that country, Nauvoo is the place of 
 general rendezvous. Our course from thence would be westward 
 through Iowa, bearing a little to the north till we come to the 
 Missouri river, leaving the State of Missouri on the left, thence 
 up the north fork of the Platte into the mouth of Sweetwater 
 river, in longitude 107 degrees 45 minutes w. and thence up Sweet- 
 water river to the South pass of the Rocky Mountains. And from 
 said South pass in latitude 42 degrees, 28 minutes north to the 
 Umpqua and Klamet valleys in Oregon, bordering on California, 
 is about 600 miles, making the distance from Nauvoo to the best 
 portions of Oregon, 1,700 miles." 
 
 All this goes to prove, beyond a doubt that the Prophet Joseph 
 Smith had in his mind the establishment of a gathering place for 
 the Saints on the Western slope of the Rocky Mountains, and 
 that the idea of the migration toward the West originated in his 
 
140 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 mind long before it was carried into practical effect by President 
 Brigham Young. 
 
 It is recorded in the history of Joseph Smith that about 7 p. m. 
 June 22, 1844, Joseph Smith called Hyrum Smith, Willard Rich- 
 ards, John Taylor, W. W. Phelps, Abraham E. Hodge, John L. 
 Butler, Alpheus Cutler, William Marks and some other brethren 
 into his upper room, where he conferred with them in regard to 
 what he should do, there being warrants out for his arrest and 
 a spirit of murder in the air. Joseph decided that all the enemy 
 wanted was to get himself and Hyrum, and that if they went 
 away no harm would come to the people or their property. He 
 said, "We will cross the river to-night and go away to the west." 
 
 These evidences form an array of testimony sufficient to make 
 the proof positive and beyond reasonable question that Joseph 
 Smtih, the Prophet of the nineteenth century, was under God, the 
 originator and projector of the plan to colonize the Rocky Moun- 
 tain valleys with Latter-day Saints, and build up a great com- 
 monwealth, devoted to civil and religious liberty, where all persons 
 of every shade of belief could worship their God according to the 
 dictates of their own consciences, without hindrance and without 
 
 molestation. Millennial Star, 62:417-421. 
 
 BRIGHAM YOUNG VINDICATED AS SUCCESSOR 
 TO THE PROPHET 
 
 By Samuel P. Orton 
 
 In 1856 I crossed the plains in Captain Edward Bunker's 
 handcart company. We got along very well until we ran short 
 of flour; our rations being a quarter of a pound of flour per day 
 without trimmings. Being young and healthy, I became very 
 weak, and I prayed to the Lord that I might die; but my prayers 
 were not answered. One day, about this time, there came an old 
 buffalo past our camp; we killed him and I being very hungry 
 ate some of the meat while it was warm. This nearly killed me. 
 I was so sick I had to leave my cart and walk behind the company. 
 
 All at once a voice spoke to me and said "Samuel are you 
 here?" I said, "Yes, I am here," and turned to see who it was 
 that spoke to me, but saw no one. This set me to thinking what 
 I was here for, and what I was going to Utah for. I wanted to 
 know if the Gospel was true, and if the Father and the Son did 
 appear to Joseph Smith and reveal it to him, and if Brigham 
 Young was his lawful successor. If so, I wanted to see when I 
 got to Salt Lake City that halo of light around the head of Presi- 
 dent Young that we see in pictures around the head of the Savior. 
 While this train of thought was passing through my mind I had 
 caught up with the company, feeling quite well, as my sickness 
 had left me. We soon after met a team from Salt Lake City with 
 some flour for us ; so we got along all right during the rest of the 
 journey. We arrived in Salt Lake City on the 5th of October. The 
 
THE ONLY WAY TO ESCAPE MARTYRDOM 141 
 
 next morning, it being Conference, I went to meeting in the old 
 Bowery, and took my seat about the middle of the building. The 
 people were coming in "pretty lively." I was watching to see if 
 there was any one that I knew, but saw no one. Then on looking 
 toward the stand I saw President Young there with the rays of 
 light around his head as I had asked to see while on the plains, 
 and the same rays seemed to faintly encircle the brethren on each 
 side of him. Then the same voice that spoke to me on .the plains, 
 said to me plainly: "Now Samuel if ever you apostatize, here is 
 your condemnation. " I looked around me to see if any of the 
 people heard the voice, but I thought they did not. This has ever 
 since been a very valuable testimony to me. 
 
 Instructor, May 15, 1906. 
 
 THE ALMIGHTY DIRECTED PIONEERS TO 
 SALT LAKE VALLEY 
 
 By Brigham Young 
 
 I do not wish men to understand that I had anything to do 
 with our being moved here, that was the providence of the 
 Almighty. It was the power of God that wrought out salvation for 
 this people, I never could have devised such a plan. . . . 
 
 We have faith, we live by faith; we came to these mountains 
 by faith. We came here, I often say, though to the ears of some 
 the expression may sound rather rude, naked and barefoot, and 
 comparatively this is true. . . . 
 
 We had to have faith to come here. When we met Mr. Bridger 
 on the Big Sandy River, said he, "Mr. Young, I would give a thou- 
 sand dollars if I knew an ear of corn could be ripened in the Great 
 Basin. ,, Said I, "Wait eighteen months and I will show you many of 
 them." Did I say this from knowledge? No, it was my faith. . . . 
 
 I cannot help being here. We might have gone to Vancouver's 
 Island ; and if we had, we should probably have been driven away or 
 used up before this time. 
 
 But here we are in the valleys of the mountains, where the 
 Lord directed me to lead the people. 
 
 The brethren who are in foreign countries desire to gather to 
 the gathering-place of the Saints, and they have for the present 
 to come to Great Salt Lake City. They cannot help that. 
 
 Why did we not go to San Francisco? Because the Lord told 
 me not: "For there are lions in the way, and they will devour the 
 lambs, if you take them there. . . ." 
 
 Talk about these rich valleys, why there is not another people 
 on the earth that could have come here and lived. We prayed over 
 the land, and dedicated it and the water, air and everything per- 
 taining to them unto the Lord, and the smiles of heaven rested on 
 the land and it became productive, and today yields us the best of 
 grain, fruit and vegetables. . . . 
 
 You inquire if we shall stay in these mountains. I answer yes, 
 as long as we please to do the will of God, our Father in Heaven. 
 If we are pleased to turn away from the holy commandments of 
 
142 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 the Lord Jesus Christ, as ancient Israel did, every man turning 
 to his own way, we shall be scattered and peeled, driven before our 
 enemies and persecuted, until we learn to remember the Lord our 
 God and are tvilling to walk in his ways* 
 
 (See Chapter 42, Discourses of Brigham Young.) 
 
 JOSEPH SMITH DIRECTED BRIGHAM YOUNG 
 TO THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS 
 
 By George A. Smith 
 
 We look around today and behold our city clothed with verdure 
 and beautified with trees and flowers, with streams of water running 
 in almost every direction, and the question is frequently asked: 
 "How did you ever find this place?" I answer, we were led to it 
 by the inspiration of God. After the death of Joseph Smith, ivhen 
 it seemed as if every trouble and calamity had come upon the 
 Saints, Brigham Young, who was President of the Twelve, then 
 the presiding Quorum of the Church, sought the Lord to know 
 what they should do, and ivhere they should lead the people for 
 safety, and ivhile they ivere fasting and praying daily on this 
 subject, President Young had a vision of Joseph Smith, tvho showed 
 him the mountain that ive now call Ensign Peak, immediately north 
 of Salt Lake City, and there ivas an ensign fell upon that peak, and 
 
 * Future Judgments Predicted: When we go back to Jackson County, 
 we are to go back with power. Do you suppose that God will reveal his 
 power among an unsanctified people, who have no regard nor respect for 
 his laws and institutions, but who are filled with covetousness? No. When 
 God shows forth his power among the Latter-day Saints, it will be because 
 there is a union of feeling in regard to doctrine, and in regard to everything 
 that God has placed in their hands; and not only a union, but a sanctification 
 on their part, that there shall not be a spot or wrinkle as it were, but every- 
 thing shall be a.s fair as the sun that shines in the heavens. 
 
 In order to bring about thisy who knows how many chastisements God 
 may yet have to pour out upon the people calling themselves Latter-day 
 Saints? I do not know. Sometimes I fear, when I read certain revelations 
 contained in this book. In one of them the Lord says, "If this people will be 
 obedient to all of my commandments, they shall begin to prevail against their 
 enemies from this very hour, and shall not cease to prevail until the kingdoms 
 of this world shall become the kingdoms of our God and his Christ." That 
 promise was given almost forty years ago. In the same paragraph it says: 
 "Inasmuch as this people will not be obedient to my commandments and live 
 by every word that I have spoken, I will visit them with sore afflictions, 
 with pestilence, with plague, with sword and with the flame of devouring 
 fire." Is it not enough to make a person fear when God has spoken this con- 
 cerning the Latter-day Saints? I do not know all things which await us. One 
 thing I do know — that the righteous need not fear. The Book of Mormon is 
 very expressive upon this subject. In the last chapter of the first book of 
 Nephi, the Lord, through the Prophet, speaks concerning the building up of 
 Zion in the latter days on the earth. He says his people should be, as it 
 were, in great straits, at certain times, but said the Prophet, "The righteous 
 need not fear, for I will preserve them, if it must needs be that I send down 
 fire from heaven unto the destruction of their enemies." This will be fulfilled 
 if necessary. Let the righteous among this people abide in their righteousness, 
 and let them cleave unto the Lord their God; and if there are those among 
 them who will not keep his commandments, they will be cleansed out by the 
 judgments of which I have spoken. (Excerpt from Sermon of Orson Pratt) 
 J. of D. 15:360. 
 
THE ONLY WAY TO ESCAPE MARTYRDOM 143 
 
 Joseph said, "Build under the point ivhere the colors fall and you 
 will prosper and have peace/' The pioneers had no pilot or guide, 
 none among them had ever been in the country or knew anything 
 about it. Hoivever, they travelled under the direction of President 
 Young until they reached this valley. When they entered it Presi- 
 dent Young pointed to that peak, and, said he, "I tvant to go there." 
 He went up to the point and said, "This is Ensign Peak. Now, 
 brethren, organize your exploring parties, so as to be safe from 
 Indians; go and explore where you will, and you will come back 
 every time and say this is the best place." They accordingly started 
 out exploring companies and visited what we now call Cache, 
 Malad, Tooele, and Utah valleys, and other parts of the country in 
 various directions, but all came back and declared this was the 
 best spot. J. D. 13:85-86. 
 
 BRIGHAM YOUNG'S FEELINGS ON LEAVING NAUVOO 
 
 (Excerpts from letter written to his brother Joseph, dated 
 "Richardson's Point, Camp of Israel, fifty-five miles from Nauvoo, 
 March 9." (1846) 
 
 "I feel as though Nauvoo will be filled with all manner of 
 abominations. It is no place for the Saints, and the Spirit whispers 
 to me that the brethren had better get away as fast as they can. 
 We pray for you continually. I hope the brethren will not have 
 trouble there, but the dark clouds of sorrow are gathering fast over 
 that place. It is a matter of doubt about any of the Twelve return- 
 ing to Nauvoo very soon. It is not the place for me any more, till 
 this nation is scourged by the hand of the Almighty, who rules in 
 the heavens. This nation shall feel the heavy hand of judgment. 
 They have shed the blood of prophets and saints and have been 
 the means of the death of many. Do not think, Brother Joseph, 
 that I hate to leave my house and home. No, far from that, I am 
 so free from bondage at this time, that Nauvoo looks like a prison 
 to me. It looks pleasant ahead, but dark to look back." 
 
 Life of Brigham Young, by Edw. W. Tullidge, p. 37. 
 
 BRIGHAM YOUNG WOULD HAVE PREVENTED 
 THE MASSACRE OF JOSEPH SMITH 
 
 "Events have since proved that had Joseph led a band of pio- 
 neers in the spring of 1844 to the Rocky Mountains, Brigham was 
 quite equal to master an exodus and remove the entire Church. 
 When the mob force threatened Nauvoo, and the Governor, with an 
 army, prepared to march against the devoted city, under the excuse 
 of forestalling civil war, making the demand on the person of the 
 Prophet for high treason, Joseph essayed to flee to the mountains. 
 He had even started, crossing the river to the Iowa side, where he 
 waited the enrolment of a chosen band of pioneers ; but a messenger 
 from his wife and certain of his disciples, reproaching him as a 
 shepherd who had deserted his flock, recalled him to Nauvoo. Such 
 a reproach ivas, beyond all others, the last that the lion heart of 
 
144 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 Joseph could bear and he returned and gave himself up to the 
 authorities of Illinois. But had Brigham Young been home he never 
 would have permitted that return. He would have thundered in- 
 dignation upon the craven heads of those ivho thus devoted their 
 Prophet to almost certain death. Rather would he have sent a 
 thousand elders to guard him to the mountains, for none loved 
 Joseph better than did Brigham Young." 
 
 Life of Brigham Young, by Edw. W. Tullidge, p. 104-5. 
 
 PLANS FOR REMOVAL TO THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS 
 
 By Helen Mar Whitney 
 
 The Saints of Nauvoo well remember how the Prophet was 
 warned by the Lord to flee to the Rocky Mountains, and had it not 
 been for his wife, Emma, and a few faithless and frightened 
 brethren, he would have come west, but it was otherwise ordained. 
 
 We cite Joseph Smith to other items (which he must have 
 forgotten if he ever knew them) that are contained in his father's 
 life, which was written and published by E. W. Tullidge. It con- 
 tains an address delivered by Lieutenant General Joseph Smith to 
 the Nauvoo Legion, in the afternoon of June 18, 1844, which was 
 listened to by hundreds who are still living here in Utah, and from 
 it I take the following extracts : 
 
 "It is thought by some that our enemies would be satisfied, 
 with my destruction; but I tell you that as soon as they have shed 
 my blood, they will thirst for the blood of every man in ivhose heart 
 dwells a single spark of the spirit of the fulness of the gospel.** 
 It is not only to destroy me but every man and woman icho dares 
 believe the doctrines that God hath inspired me to teach to this 
 generation. 
 
 "We have turned the barren bleak prairie swamps of this 
 State into beautiful towns, farms and cities, by our industry; and 
 the men who seek our destruction and cry thief, treason, riot, etc. 
 are those who themselves violate the laws, steal and plunder from 
 their neighbors, and seek to destroy the innocent; heralding forth 
 lies to screen themselves from the just punishment of their crimes 
 by bringing distress upon this innocent people. 
 
 "We are American citizens. We live upon a soil for the liberties 
 of which our fathers periled their lives and spilt their blood upon 
 the battle-field. Those rights, so dearly purchased shall not be 
 disgracefully trodden under foot by lawless marauders without at 
 least a noble effort on our part to sustain our liberties. 
 
 "Will you stand by me to the death, and sustain, at the peril 
 of your lives, the laws of our country, and the liberties and privi- 
 leges which our fathers have transmitted unto us, sealed with 
 their sacred blood?" "Aye," shouted thousands. He then said: "It 
 is well. If you had not done it, I would have gone out there," 
 (pointing to the west), "and would have raised up a mightier 
 people." 
 
 Drawing his sword and presenting it to heaven, the Prophet 
 said : "I call God and angels to tvitness that I have unsheathed my 
 
THE ONLY WAY TO ESCAPE MARTYRDOM 145 
 
 sword with a firm and unalterable determination that this people 
 shall have their legal rights, and be protected from mob violence, 
 or my blood shall be spilt upon the ground like water, and my body 
 consigned to the silent tomb. While I live, I ivill not tamely submit 
 to the dominion of a cursed mobocracy. I would welcome death 
 rather than submit to this oppression; and it tuould be siveet, oh, 
 sweet to rest in the grave, rather than submit to this oppression, 
 agitation, annoyance, confusion, and alarm upon alarm, any longer. 
 
 "I call upon all friends of truth and liberty to come to our as- 
 sistance; and may the thunders of the Almighty, and the forked 
 lightnings of heaven, and pestilence, and war, and bloodshed come 
 down on those ungodly men ivho seek to destroy my life and the 
 lives of this innocent people. 
 
 "I do not regard my own life. I am ready to be offered a sacri- 
 fice for this people; for what can our enemies do? Only kill the 
 body, and their power is then at an end. Stand firm, my friends; 
 never flinch; do not seek to save your lives, for he that is afraid 
 to die for the truth will lose eternal life. Hold out to the end, and 
 we shall be resurrected, and become like Gods, and reign in celes- 
 tial kingdoms, principalities, and eternal dominions, while this 
 cursed mob will sink to hell, the portion of all those who shed in- 
 nocent blood. 
 
 "God has tried you. You are a good people ; therefore I love you 
 with all my heart. Greater love hath no man than that he should 
 lay down his life for his friends. You have stood by me in the hour 
 of trouble, and I am willing to sacrifice my life for your preserva- 
 tion. May the Lord God of Israel bless you forever and ever. I 
 say it in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, and in the authority of 
 the Holy Priesthood, which He hath conferred upon me."** 
 
 On the 22nd of June, 1844, Joseph Smith and his brother 
 Hyrum bade their families farewell. When he came from the house, 
 the record says, "His tears were flowing fast. He held a handker- 
 chief to his face, and followed after his brother Hyrum without 
 uttering a word." 
 
 They were accompanied by Willard Richards and 0. P. Rock- 
 well, and it was after midnight when they started to cross the 
 Mississippi. Bishop N. K. Whitney and others of their wise and 
 faithful friends also followed them shortly afterwards. Joseph 
 sent 0. P. Rockwell back for horses, and the brethren were packing 
 their provisions, when messengers came with a letter from Emma 
 Smith, asking them to return and deliver themselves up, but at 
 the same time those who were with them begged them not to return. 
 Joseph sent a messenger to his ivife to inquire if she ivould take 
 her children and flee ivith him, but she said she "could not give up 
 the mansion." Plural Marriages as Taught by Joseph Smith, p. 19-22. 
 
 GOV. THOMAS FORD SAID THE PROPHET JOSEPH 
 PLANNED THE EXODUS 
 
 "Your religion is new and it surprises the people as any great 
 novelty in religion generally does. They cannot rise above the 
 prejudices excited by such novelty. However truly, and sincerely 
 
146 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 your own people may believe in it, the impression on the public 
 mind everywhere is that your leading men are imposters and rogues 
 and that the others are dupes and fools. This impression in the 
 minds of the great mass is sufficient to warrant them in consider- 
 ing and treating you as enemies and outcasts; as men to be cher- 
 ished and trusted in nothing, because in their estimation some of 
 you are deluded, and others designing in matters of religion. If you 
 can get off by yourselves you may enjoy peace; but surrounded by 
 such neighbors I confess that I do not foresee the time when you will 
 be permitted to enjoy quiet. / ivas informed by General Joseph 
 Smith last summer that he contemplated a removal west; and from 
 ivhat I learned from him and others at that time I think if he had 
 lived he would have begun to move in the matter before this time. 
 I would be tuilling to exert all my feeble abilities and influence to 
 further your views in this respect if it ivas the wish of your people." 
 
 Excerpt from letter of Gov. Thomas Ford to Brigham Young, 
 dated Springfield, April 8, 1845. D. H. C. 6:398. 
 
 THE SAINTS WILL BE OUT OF THE POWER OF THEIR 
 ENEMIES IN FIVE YEARS 
 
 On Sunday, the 25th day of February, 1844, in a meeting at 
 the assembly room of the Saints in Nauvoo, Joseph prophesied that 
 within five years the Saints would be out of the power of their old 
 enemies, whether apostates or of the world; and he asked the 
 brethren to record the prediction. 
 
 About this time he was inspired to direct the glance of the 
 Apostles to the western slope where he said the people of God 
 might establish themselves anew, worship after their own sincere 
 convictions, and work out the grand social problems of modern 
 life. This subject was present in his mind and often upon his lips 
 during the brief remainder of his earthly existence. 
 
 Frequent councils were held and he directed the organization 
 of an exploring expedition to venture beyond the Rocky Moun- 
 tains to seek a home for a righteous people denied every right of 
 citizenship within the boundaries of the United States then exist- 
 ing. His purpose was not to sever the Saints from this sublime 
 republic by any emigration; he saw that this country's domain 
 must soon stretch from ocean to ocean. The entire land of North 
 and South America was the Zion of the Lord, and the people might 
 settle in any spot where peace could be enjoyed, always remember- 
 ing that in the due time of the Almighty the center stake must 
 be built up. 
 
 Work was stopped on the Nauvoo house by the Prophet's 
 direction and every effort concentrated upon the temple. He de- 
 termined that the structure should be fitted to receive the wor- 
 shiping Saints of the Most High before they should go into volun- 
 tary exile or submit to expatriation. And though he did not live 
 to see the consummation of this purpose, it was literally fulfilled. 
 And though he did not live to see the exodus of the Saints nor to 
 send out the first pioneer party of explorers, his inspired sugges- 
 tion was carried out; and through it his prediction was fulfilled 
 
THE ONLY WAY TO ESCAPE MARTYRDOM 147 
 
 that the Saints in five years should be beyond the power of their 
 old enemies. 
 
 In March, the Prophet addressed a memorial to Congress, 
 asking for the passage of an ordinance to protect citizens of the 
 United States emigrating into the western region. His purpose 
 was to advance, under national authority, beyond the western 
 boundary of the United States and establish American citizens 
 in this vast domain preparatory to the hour when it should become 
 annexed to our country. The ordinance he himself drafted, and in 
 its provisions he betrayed his usual grandeur of purpose. 
 
 Life of the Prophet Joseph, By George Q. Cannon, pp. 447-448. 
 
 SAINTS, IF WORTHY, SHALL BE PROTECTED 
 
 By Orson Hyde 
 
 The Latter-day Saints once had homes amongst other people; 
 but other people and other powers would neither protect nor de- 
 fend us in the possession and enjoyment of them. Consequently, 
 we were forced away to the home which God provided for us ; and 
 he has promised us here his own protection and defense, if ive prove 
 faithful to him, — that if any people, any power, or any force should 
 stretch out an arm to molest or oppress us, that people, that power, 
 or that force should be broken like a potter's vessel tuhen smitten 
 by an iron rod. "Whosoever f alleth upon this stone shall be broken." 
 "I will fight your battles," saith the Almighty. All who prefer the 
 protection of Jehovah to the protection of the crumbling powers 
 of this world, and whose hearts are pure and honest enough to 
 merit that protection, may come and share it. "Come out of Baby- 
 lon, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins and that ye 
 
 receive not of her plagues." Millennial Star, 24:275. 
 
 JOSEPH LONGED TO BE IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS 
 
 By Brigham Young 
 
 "Remarks have been made as to our staying here. I will tell 
 you how long we shall stay here. If we live our religion, we shall 
 stay here in these mountains forever and forever, worlds without 
 end, and a portion of the Priesthood will go and redeem and build 
 up the centre Stake of Zion. If we leave here, where shall we go to? 
 Has any one discovered where we can again pitch our tents, when 
 we leave this country? In the days of Joseph ive have sat many 
 hours at a time conversing about this very country. Joseph has 
 often said, 'If I ivere only in the Rocky Mountains ivith a hundred 
 faithful men, I would then be happy, and ask no odds of mobocrats! 
 And neither do I. 
 
 "Who are going to pull up stakes and leave here? If we for- 
 sake our God and our religion, then woe to us, for then we shall be 
 all apostates together, and under such circumstances we have no 
 promise of God for our protection; but if we live in the faith of 
 the Son of God, we have the heavens, the power of God and of 
 
148 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 angels on our side. I can tell you, as truly as Elisha said to his 
 servant: Tear not; for they that be with us are more than they 
 that be with them.' For, 'the mountain was full of horses and 
 chariots of fire around about Elisha.' " /. d. 11:16. 
 
 TRAITORS ADVISED THE PROPHET TO RETURN 
 
 By Benj. F. Johnson 
 
 It was now June 1844, and mobs were destroying property, 
 burning homes of the Saints outside of Nauvoo, and threatening 
 the city. Governor Ford ordered out troops to enforce the law, but 
 they were not reliable, and all was excitement. On the 15th an 
 order came for the able-bodied men at Macedonia to hasten to 
 Nauvoo. On the 16th we started, and to avoid attack travelled all 
 night, across the prairie through mud, rain and darkness, terrible 
 to those who were there. The Prophet came out to greet us. Here 
 I remained a few days on duty, when I was sent by General Dun- 
 ham, then in command, back to Macedonia to look after and keep 
 up a home-guard. 
 
 It was now revealed to the Prophet that his only safety was 
 in flight to the Rocky Mountains, and he crossed the river with a 
 few faithful friends with a full purpose not to return. But through 
 the persuasion and reproaches of his wife, Emma, and others, he 
 was induced to return and give himself up to the slaughter. With 
 all the persons who induced him to return I was well acquainted, 
 and I know that fearful has been the hand of the Lord to follow 
 them from the day they sought to steady the Ark of God, which 
 resulted in the martyrdom of his servants. 
 
 My Life's Review, pp. 101-102. 
 
CHAPTER 8 
 
 Personal Farewells of the Prophet 
 to his Friends 
 
 PROPHET'S LAST WORDS IN MORTALITY 
 
 Joseph laid out his right arm, and said to John S. Fullmer, 
 "Lay your head on my arm for a pillow, Brother John ;" and when 
 all were quiet they conversed in a low tone about the prospects 
 of their deliverance. Joseph gave expression to several presenti- 
 ments that he had to die, and said "I would like to see my family 
 again," and "I would to God that I could preach to the Saints in 
 Nauvoo once more." Fullmer tried to rally his spirits, saying he 
 thought he would often have that privilege, when Joseph thanked 
 him for the remarks and good feelings expressed to him. 
 
 Henry G. Sherwood went up to Joseph and said "Brother 
 Joseph, shall I return to Nauvoo and regulate about getting the 
 arms and get the receipts for them?" Joseph inquired if he was 
 under arrest, or expected to be arrested. Sherwood answered 
 "No," when Joseph directed him to return ahead of the company, 
 gather the arms and do as well as he could in all things. Joseph 
 then said to the company who were with him, "I am going like a 
 lamb to the slaughter, but I am calm as a summer's morning. I 
 have a conscience void of offense toward God and toiuard all men. 
 If they take my life I shall die an innocent man, and my blood shall 
 cry from the ground for vengeance, and it shall be said of me 'He 
 ivas murdered in cold blood!' " He then said to Father Sherwood, 
 "Go, and God bless you." Sherwood then rode as swiftly as he 
 could to Nauvoo. 
 
 Joseph paused when they got to the Temple, and looked with 
 admiration first on that, and then on the city, and remarked, "This 
 is the loveliest place and the best people under the heavens ; little 
 do they know the trials that await them." As he passed out of 
 the city, he called on Daniel H. Wells, Esq., who was unwell, and 
 on parting he said, "Squire Wells, I wish you to cherish my memory, 
 and not think me the worst man in the world either." 
 
 The company (about fifteen) then started again for Carthage, 
 and when opposite to the Masonic Hall, Joseph said, "Boys, if I 
 don't come back, take care of yourselves; I am going like a lamb 
 to the slaughter." When they passed his farm he took a good 
 look at it, and after they had passed it, he turned round several 
 times to look again, at which some of the company made remarks, 
 when Joseph said: "If some of you had got such a farm and knew 
 you would not see it any more, you would want to take a good look 
 at it for the last time." 
 
 Joseph rode down home twice to bid his family farewell. He 
 appeared solemn and thoughtful, and expressed himself to several 
 
150 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 individuals that he expected to be murdered. There appeared no 
 alternative but that he must either give himself up, or the in- 
 habitants of the city would be massacred by a lawless mob under 
 sanction of the Governor. 
 
 / told Stephen Markham that if I and Hyrum ivere ever taken 
 again we should be massacred, or I was not a prophet of God. 1 
 want Hyrum to live to avenge my blood, but he is determined not 
 to leave me. D. H. C. 6:601, 554, 555, 558. 
 
 WILFORD WOODRUFF SEES THE PROPHET JOSEPH 
 FOR THE LAST TIME 
 
 I left New York for Nauvoo, via the lakes, and was on the 
 steamer Chesapeake, with my wife and child when she was wrecked 
 on Lake Michigan, and all came near being lost; but through the 
 mercy of God we were again preserved from the perils of the 
 waters. I arrived at Nauvoo on the 6th of October, 1841, where I 
 again had the happy privilege of meeting with the Prophet Joseph 
 and Apostles and my friends. I spent the winter of 1841-2 in 
 Nauvoo, attending meetings and councils, and laboring with my 
 hands for the support of myself and family until the 3rd of Feb- 
 ruary, 1842, at which time Joseph Smith called me to take charge 
 of the business department of the printing office, which I attended 
 to until the 20th of January, 1844, when I left the office well sup- 
 plied with materials, in the hands of Elder John Taylor. I received 
 my endowments with the Twelve under the direction of the Prophet 
 Joseph Smith in the winter of 1843. In the spring of 1844, I was 
 appointed a mission w T ith most of the Tw T elve to go through the 
 Eastern States. On the 9th of May, 1844, I took the last parting 
 hand with President Joseph Smith in his own house, with Brother 
 Jedediah M. Grant. He blessed me and bade me God speed, but 
 seemed very sorrowful, as he did in parting with all the Twelve. 
 I have since been satisfied that he had a presentiment that it was 
 his last parting with his brethren of the Apostles. I attended a 
 conference at Boston, and on the 27th of June, 1844, while at the 
 railway depot in Boston with Elder Brigham Young, waiting for 
 trains to take us to Lowell, there seemed to be a dark cloud and 
 sorrowful gloom come over us, which we could not comprehend at 
 the time. While I was at Portland, Maine, and ready to step on 
 board a steamer for Fox Islands I saw an account of the martyr- 
 dom of the Prophet and his brother Hyrum, and the Spirit bore 
 record to me that it was true; so I returned to Boston, where the 
 Twelve soon met together, and we hastened to Nauvoo, when we 
 found the city enveloped in mourning. Millennial Star, Vol. 51:242. 
 
 ORDERS FOR MACEDONIA TROOPS OF THE 
 NAUVOO LEGION 
 
 By John L. Smith 
 
 In 1844, during the increase of troubles and mobocracy in 
 Hancock county, Illinois, orders were issued for the Macedonia 
 
PERSONAL FAREWELLS OF THE PROPHET 151 
 
 troop of the Nauvoo Legion to march to Nauvoo. The troops being 
 assembled and the dispatches read, Captain Babbitt made the fol- 
 lowing speech, as near as my memory serves : "My men, I love you, 
 but I will not go, and will say that not one of you who start for 
 Nauvoo will ever reach that place alive." My father, president of 
 the branch, stepped in front of the company, and in a clear distinct 
 voice said : "Every man of you that goes at the call of the Prophet 
 shall go and return safely and not a hair of your heads shall be 
 lost; and I bless you in the name of the Lord." 
 
 The troop, seventy-five in number, quickly voted for Lieut. 
 Yager to take command, and in one hour we were on the march. 
 For some days previous the rain had been falling in torrents; 
 creeks and sloughs were overflowing and the roads were ankle-deep 
 in mud. Some six or eight of our party were mounted on horses, 
 the balance trailing behind the baggage wagons, holding our arms 
 and ammunition above our heads, as we were often waist-deep in 
 water. 
 
 About five miles on our way, we encountered a band of mounted 
 men with red flags flying. They were twice our number, and had 
 gathered around a log house, some fifty yards to the left of the 
 road. They rode around the house several times and fired at us 
 as they made the circle, the bullets whistling through the air and 
 some of them ploughing up the ground before reaching our line. 
 Captain Yager placed our men in file at three paces space, directing 
 each man to load well, but hold fire until we could see them wink ; 
 just as we were nearly opposite them they took fright and broke 
 into a run across the prairie toward Carthage. 
 
 We reached Nauvoo about daylight, and encamped in front 
 of Foster's big brick house near the Temple. Our camp equipage 
 was placed by the side of a log which reached halfway across the 
 street. While I was guarding the baggage, Joseph the Prophet 
 rode up to the log, reached his hand to me and inquired after uncle 
 and aunt. He held me by the hand and pulled me forward until 
 I was obliged to step upon the log. When turning his horse side- 
 ways he drew me step by step to near the end of the log, when 
 seeing that each foot left marks upon the bark he asked me what 
 was the matter with my feet. I replied the prairie grass had cut 
 my shoes to pieces and wounded my feet, but they would soon be 
 all right. I noticed the hand he raised to his face was wet, and 
 looking up I saw his cheeks covered with tears. He placed his hand 
 on my head and said, "God bless you, my dear boy," and asked if 
 others of the company were in the same plight. I replied that a 
 number of them were. Turning his face toward Mr. Lathrop as 
 the latter came to the door of his store, the Prophet said : "Let these 
 men have some shoes." Lathrop said: "I have no shoes." Joseph's 
 quick reply was : "Let them have boots, then." 
 
 Joseph then turned to me and said: "Johnnie, the troops will 
 be disbanded and return home. I shall go to Carthage for trial, 
 under the protection of the governor." Then leaning towards me, 
 with one hand on my head, he said : "Have no fears, for you shall 
 yet see Israel triumph and in peace." This was the last time I saw 
 and spoke with Joseph the Prophet while living, and the sensation 
 
152 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 and impression made upon me will never be forgotten. On June 20, 
 1844, the troops disbanded, and we marched home, numbers of my 
 brethren as well as myself being very thankful for the protection 
 our boots afforded to our wounded feet. 
 
 On June 27, 1844, while on picket duty on one of the main 
 streets of Macedonia, word came that Joseph and Hyrum had been 
 murdered at Carthage. This we could scarcely believe to be true, 
 though at the hour specified we heard the firing of guns from that 
 direction, it being only a few miles distant. The report was con- 
 firmed soon after. 
 
 On the 29th my father and family, with the Saints generally, 
 visited Nauvoo and passed through the room in the Mansion house 
 where the bodies of the Prophet and Patriarch lay, while thousands 
 viewed them. My eyes were dry and it seemed to me they would 
 burn out of my head, but no tears relieved me. After the burial 
 ceremonies were over we returned to Macedonia. Many threats 
 were made, and much talk of murdering all the Smith relatives. 
 During the summer we removed to Nauvoo and with the assistance 
 of many friends we built a room or two adjoining my brother 
 George A. Smith's house. My father administered hundreds of 
 patriarchal blessings, having been ordained a Patriarch by Joseph 
 and Hyrum before they were murdered. Millennial Star, 56:539-541. 
 
 THE LAST TIME I SAW THE PROPHET 
 
 By Mary Ellen Kimball 
 
 The last time I saw the Prophet, he was on his way to Carthage 
 jail. Himself and his brother Hyrum were on horseback, also 
 Brothers John Taylor and Willard Richards. They stopped outside 
 Sister Clawson's house, at the house of Brother Rosecrans. We were 
 on the porch. The streets of Nauvoo were narrow, and we could 
 hear every word he said. He asked for a drink of water. They all 
 took a drink. Some few remarks passed between them which I do 
 not remember; after bidding goodbye, he said to Brother Rose- 
 crans : "If I never see you again, or if I never come back, remem- 
 ber that I love you." This went through me like electricity. I 
 went in the house and threw myself on the bed and wept like a 
 child. Juvenile Instructor, 27:490; Nauvoo the Beautiful, p. 157. 
 
 FOREBODINGS OF THOMAS COTTAM 
 
 Thomas Cottam, whose home is in St. George, Washington 
 County, Utah, first met the Prophet Joseph Smith, in April 1842, in 
 Nauvoo, having emigrated there from England, his native country, 
 where he received the gospel February 2nd, 1840. Brother Cottam 
 states that the Prophet's appearance when he first saw him was just 
 what he had previously conceived it to be — that of a noble, fine- 
 looking man. 
 
 "My testimony of him is that he was a true Prophet of God, 
 raised up in this last dispensation of the fullness of times, and that 
 his sayings and teachings are true and faithful, and that he sealed 
 his testimony with his blood. " 
 
PERSONAL FAREWELLS OF THE PROPHET 153 
 
 'There are some things that are, as it were, engraved on my 
 memory. One is particularly so. In Nauvoo I lived near Brother 
 Caspar's on the creek, about a mile and a half from the Temple. 
 Accidentally going into the city on that fatal day, the 27th of June, 
 I met Brothers Joseph and Hyrum with others of the brethren 
 and a posse of men on their leaving Nauvoo for Carthage for the 
 last time. His appearance and demeanor conveyed plainly to my 
 mind that he realized he was going as a lamb to the slaughter. I 
 should judge his feelings to be similar to that of the Savior when 
 he uttered these memorable words : '0 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou 
 that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, 
 how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a 
 hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not !' " 
 
 "As I was on guard in and around Nauvoo I did not see the 
 bodies of our honored dead after they were brought home, but I 
 recollect the feeling that came upon me when I just heard of their 
 death. 'Can it be possible! can it be possible!' I repeated in my 
 mind; 'well, I shall have to go back to England.' But it was only 
 temporary, for I soon realized that there would be a leader for the 
 people. Even some of the disciples of Jesus thought momentarily 
 that they would have to return again to their fishing." 
 
 Instructor, Vol. 15. 
 
 A PROPHECY BY JOSEPH THE SEER 
 
 On the 16th of June (1844) Brother Joseph preached to the 
 assembled Saints in the grove east of the Temple (while the rain 
 fell heavily), from the revelations of St. John the Divine. After 
 the city had been declared under martial law, the Legion was drawn 
 up in front of the Mansion House and the Prophet, standing upon 
 the framework of a building opposite, addressed them. He asked 
 us if we loved him? if we would stand by him and sustain the laws 
 of our country? And we all answered "Yes, yes." Then he said 
 he was content; he would die for us. "I love you, my brethren; 
 greater love hath no man than that he lay down his life for his 
 friends ; you have stood by me in the hour of trouble, and I am 
 willing to sacrifice my life for your preservation." Then drawing 
 his sword : "I call God and Angels to witness that this people shall 
 have their legal rights or my blood shall be spilt upon the ground 
 **** and my body consigned to the tomb, but if there is one drop 
 of blood shed on this occasion, the sword shall never again be 
 sheathed until Christ comes to reign over the earth**** Peace shall 
 be taken from the land which permits these crimes against the 
 Saints to go unavenged***. May God bless you forever and ever." 
 And we all answered, "Amen." 
 
 On the 20th day of June Brother Joseph sent word to all the 
 apostles to return home immediately; and on the 24th he, with 
 seventeen others, went to Carthage. 
 
 At this time I was living at Big Mound, an English settlement 
 about eight miles from Nauvoo, and there, while engaged in putting 
 in sod corn I heard of the Prophet's and Hyrum's death. The next 
 morning I started to Carthage with those who went after the 
 
154 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 bodies. We met them on the road, Dr. Richards having dressed 
 the wounds of John Taylor and started for Nauvoo with Joseph's 
 and Hyrum's bodies. 
 
 The wailing of the Saints when they saw the martyrs was 
 terrible. Ten thousand people were addressed by Apostle Richards, 
 who admonished them to keep the peace and trust to the law for a 
 remedy for the awful crimes which had been committed and if the 
 law failed, to call upon God in heaven to avenge us of our wrongs. 
 The bodies were placed in coffins, the funeral was held, while deep 
 grief filled our hearts and sorrow rested heavily upon us — a stricken 
 people. The woe of the Saints cannot be described. Our Prophet 
 and Patriarch dead, only two of the apostles with us and one of 
 them supposed to be dying, and all this time we were in constant 
 expectation of an attack by the mob army. 
 
 Life of Christopher Lay ton, pp. 19-21. 
 
 LAST ADMONITION OF JOSEPH THE PROPHET 
 
 A few words of counsel given by the Prophet Joseph Smith on 
 the 22nd day of June, 1844. On this day our General called us out 
 in order and to my astonishment counselled us to give up our arms 
 that had been supplied for our defense by the authority of the state 
 of Illinois, saying: "We will give to them that asketh of us and 
 trust in God for our future welfare. I wish to render you my 
 thanks as soldiers and citizens under my command. I proclaim as 
 your general, you have done your duty faithfully in guarding this 
 city and in preserving the lives of all the people as well as mine in 
 a special manner; for I have seen you on duty without shoes and 
 comfortable clothing, and if I had the means to buy or if I could 
 obtain these necessary things for you I would gladly do it. But I 
 cannot mortgage any of my property to get one dollar but I will 
 say this: You will be called the first Elders of the Church, and 
 your missions will be to the nations of the earth. You will gather 
 many people into the fastnesses of the Rocky Mountains as a 
 center for the gathering of the people, and you will be faithful 
 because you have been true; and many of those that come under 
 your ministry, because of their much learning, will seek for high 
 positions, and they will be set up and raise themselves in eminence 
 above you, but you will walk in low places unnoticed and you will 
 know all that transpires in their midst, and those that are my 
 friends will be your friends. This I ivill promise to you, that when 
 I come again to lead you forth, for I will go to prepare a place 
 for you, so that where I am you shall be with me." 
 
 With these comforting sayings, he thanked us for past duties 
 done. "You are now dismissed to take care of your wives and chil- 
 dren and homes." 
 
 On the 23rd day of June, 1844, we heard a call upon the 
 Legion to muster in Main street near the Mansion house. I again 
 saw our General in his uniform upon a small frame. He again 
 spoke to the Legion. Laying his hand upon the head of Levi W. 
 Hancock who was sitting at his feet, he said : "This day the Lord 
 has shown to me that which was never shown to me before, that 
 
PERSONAL FAREWELLS OF THE PROPHET 
 
 155 
 
 THE PROPHET JOSEPH ADDRESSING THE NAUVOO LEGION. 
 
 Unsheathing his sword the Prophet said: "I call God and angels to wit- 
 ness that this people shall have their legal rights or my blood shall be spilt 
 upon the ground and my body consigned to the tomb but if there is one drop 
 of blood shed on this occasion, the sword shall never again be sheathed until 
 Christ comes to reign on earth." 
 
 I have thousands of friends that never pretended friendship, while 
 others have sought to crawl into my bosom because of my good 
 feelings towards them, and now are the vipers and do seek my life ; 
 and if they shall take it they will pursue you ; they will do it any- 
 how. When you are obliged to fight, be sure that you do not stain 
 your hands with the blood of women and children, and when your 
 enemies call for quarters, be sure that you grant them the same, 
 and then you will gain power over the world." He then raised his 
 hand from Levi W. Hancock's head and also raised his voice, say- 
 
156 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 ing: "You will forever be named the Nauvoo Legion, and as I have 
 had the honor of being your General and leader, I feel to say a few 
 words to your comfort and I wish to ascertain your interest and 
 faith in your mission of life that you are engaged in, even in the 
 same cause, with the power of the Priesthood sealed upon you. 
 Your calling is to minister life and salvation to all nations on the 
 earth. Although things appear at the present crisis, by the works 
 of our enemies, that they hold an overruling power over us, but I 
 will liken these things to a wheel of fortune. If we are at this time 
 under the wheel, it is sure to be rolling on, and as sure will the 
 Saints, sometime be on top of this wheel, if they hang on for their 
 fortune in view. If it was not for the tender bonds of love that 
 binds me to you, my friends and brethren, death would be sweet to 
 me as honey. Our enemies are after me, to trust my life to them, 
 by their voucher and honor of the state and that by the Governor 
 and authority of the state of Illinois. I therefore will say to you 
 Saints and Elders of Israel: Be not troubled nor give yourselves 
 uneasiness, so as to make any rash moves or to take any hasty 
 steps in doing any ivrong whereby you will be cut short in your 
 calling in preaching the Gospel to this generation, for you ivill yet 
 be called upon to go forth and call upon the free men from Maine 
 to gather themselves together to the Rocky Mountains; and the 
 Redmen from the West and all people from the North and from 
 the South and from the East, and go to the West, to establish them- 
 selves in the strongholds of their gathering places, and there you 
 will gather the Redmen to their center from their scattered and 
 dispersed situation, to become the strong arm of Jehovah, who will 
 be a strong buhvark of protection from your foes. These things 
 I feel to tell you beforehand, that you may always be ready for 
 your duty, for at this time I need the best of friends to stand by 
 me, and on this occasion I would like to know of you all, by your 
 own answer, Yes or No, Are you willing to lay down your lives for 
 me?" 
 
 The answer was then heard with one unanimous voice, "Yes." 
 
 "I am your Father. Shall I not be your Father?" Then all, with 
 a loud exclamation said, "Yes." He again said to us : "Now I am will- 
 ing to lay my life down for you, and if innocent blood is spilt on this 
 occasion" (he then drew his sword out of the scabbard, raising it 
 above his head, saying) "I will call upon the mighty Gods to bear 
 witness of this; I have drawn my sword and it shall never be 
 sheathed again until vengeance is taken on all of our enemies. I 
 will call upon the elements in our defense, the winds with the 
 whirlwinds, the thunders and lightnings and the hail storms; the 
 heavens shall tremble and with earthquakes shall the earth be 
 shaken, with the seas heaving themselves beyond their bounds. 
 These things shall be brought to bear against our enemies for our 
 preservation as a people of the Lord. We have given up our arms 
 and they have taken away our right of protection, by our City 
 Charter, and now they desire that I shall surrender myself into 
 their hands, which I have consented to do. I only go to return to 
 you again." 
 
PERSONAL FAREWELLS OF THE PROPHET 157 
 
 With his blessing upon us, we were dismissed to go to our 
 homes. Excerpts from Diary of John E. Forsgren. 
 
 THE SISTER OF THE PROPHET TESTIFIES 
 
 The following is from the Carthage, 111., Republican of May 16 
 (1894), and will be of more than passing interest to the Latter-day 
 Saints, as it relates to the only surviving sister of the Prophet 
 Joseph Smith and to incidents which are deeply impressed in the 
 history of the Mormon people: 
 
 A representative of the Republican recently paid a visit to the 
 home of Fred Salisbury, residing some four miles northeast of 
 Fountain Green, and was cordially received by that gentleman and 
 his family, as well as by his venerable and noted mother, Mrs. Cath- 
 erine Salisbury, who is a sister of the Prophet Joseph Smith. On the 
 27th day of June next will be the fiftieth anniversary of the massacre 
 of Hyrum and Joseph Smith in the old stone jail at Carthage. The 
 silver-crowned matriarch who will be 88 years old in July, bears a 
 striking resemblance to her nephew, the present Joseph Smith, son 
 of the Prophet, and president of the Reorganized Church of Jesus 
 Christ of Latter-day Saints, at Lamoni, Iowa. Some resemblance to 
 the martyred Prophet, as shown in some of the photographs of him, 
 may be noted in the features of this venerable lady, but very little. 
 Mrs. Salisbury, as well as her son, was ready to answer any questions 
 relating to their noted relatives or the early reminiscences of Mor- 
 monism in Hancock County. "We have been interviewed by authors 
 and newspaper writers/' said Mrs. Salisbury, "but we have not always 
 received justice in histories or published stories. All we ask is a fair 
 representation." 
 
 Mrs. Salisbury also stated that her brother's life and acts had 
 been most cruelly misrepresented. She loaned the writer a book 
 written a number of years ago by Mrs. Lucy Smith, mother of 
 Joseph, which she says is the most authentic account of the Smith 
 family ever published. Mrs. Salisbury resided with her husband at 
 Plymouth, in this county, during the Mormon ascendancy. She with 
 her parents and brothers and sisters, save Joseph and Hyrum, first 
 located near the present site of Bardolph, McDonough County, at 
 the time the Mormons were driven out of Missouri. The major por- 
 tion of the Mormons remained in Quincy two or three weeks after 
 leaving Missouri until Joseph and Hyrum were liberated from jail. 
 They then followed their leaders to Nauvoo, where the "New Zion" 
 was built upon these beautiful hills. 
 
 "I heard brother Joseph's last sermon, delivered to a great 
 audience in Nauvoo," said Mrs. Salisbury, and a look of tender 
 sadness lighted up those dimming eyes as she spoke. "In that ser- 
 mon," continued the venerable lady, "Brother Joseph said that 
 there was seated on the speaker's stand beside him those who were 
 conspiring to take his life, and ivho would be responsible for his 
 death" 
 
 Among the valuable relics exhibited to the visitor was a por- 
 trait of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, standing facing each other, 
 dressed in the peculiar costumes worn by them as Prophets of the 
 Church. "That is the position they assumed the last time I ever 
 saw my brothers, " said Mrs. Salisbury, "I left them on the Satur- 
 day (June 22, 1844) before the Thursday that they were murdered 
 at Carthage. Brother Joseph shook my hand saying, "Sister Cath- 
 erine as soon as this trouble blows over I will come down to 
 Plymouth and make you a visit." Brother Hyrum simply said, 
 
158 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 "Good-bye" in an impressive manner. I never saw them again in 
 life. They were both very kind to me and whenever there was a 
 church celebration or any big doings at Nauvoo they would always 
 send for me." Millennial Star, 56:549-551. 
 
 FOREBODINGS OF THE MARTYRDOM 
 
 By Wilford Woodruff 
 
 While delivering an interesting address before the Female 
 Relief Society of Nauvoo, he said, As he had this opportunity he 
 was going to instruct the society, and point out the way for them to 
 conduct themselves, that they might act according to the will of 
 God ; that he did not know that he should have many opportunities 
 of teaching them, as they were going to be left to themselves ; they 
 would not have him to instruct them; that the church would not 
 have his instructions long, and the world would not be troubled 
 with him a great while, nor have his teachings; he spoke of de- 
 livering the keys to others, and that, according to his prayers, God 
 had appointed him elsewhere. 
 
 The Prophet called the quorum of the twelve together several 
 months before his death, and informed them that the Lord had 
 commanded him to hasten their endowments; that he did not ex- 
 pect to remain himself to see the temple completed, but wished to 
 confer the keys of the kingdom of God upon other men, that they 
 might build up the church and kingdom according to the pattern 
 given. And the Prophet stood before the twelve from day to day, 
 clothed with the spirit and power of God, and instructed them in 
 the oracles of God, in the pattern of heavenly things, in the keys 
 of the kingdom, the power of the priesthood, and in the knowledge 
 of the last dispensation in the fullness of times. 
 
 Millennial Star, 5:136. 
 
 TESTIMONY OF WILFORD WOODRUFF 
 
 Delivered on February 23, 1892, in the Assembly Hall, 
 Salt Lake City, Utah 
 
 Joseph Smith lived some fourteen years, if I mistake not, after 
 he organized this Church. He also was slain. But before he died 
 he organized the Church with Apostles, Patriarchs, Pastors, Teach- 
 ers, and the whole government of the Church of God; and that 
 Priesthood he organized or laid the foundation of which remained 
 with the people after his death. The Twelve Apostles stood next to 
 the First Presidency of the Church; and I am a living witness 
 myself to this work. I am a living witness to the testimony that he 
 gave to the Twelve Apostles when all of us received our endow- 
 ments under his hands. I remember the last speech that he ever 
 gave us before his death. It was before we started upon our mis- 
 sion to the East. He stood upon his feet some two or three hours. 
 The room was filled as with consuming fire, his face was as clear 
 as amber, and he was clothed upon by the power of God. He laid 
 before us our duty. He laid before us the fullness of this great work 
 
PERSONAL FAREWELLS OF THE PROPHET 159 
 
 of God; and in his remarks to us he said: "I have sealed upon! 
 my head every key, every power, every principle of life and salva- 
 tion that God has ever given to any man who ever lived upon the 
 face of the earth. And these principles and this priesthood and 
 power belong to this great and last dispensation which the God of 
 Heaven has set His hand to establish in the earth." "Now," said he, 
 addressing the Twelve, "I have sealed upon your heads every key, 
 every power, and every principle which the Lord has sealed upon 
 my head." Continuing, he said, "I have lived so long — up to the 
 present time — I have been in the midst of this people, and in the 
 great work of labor and redemption. I have desired to live to see 
 this Temple (at Nauvoo) built. But I shall never live to see it com- 
 pleted; but you will." Now, we did not suppose but what he 
 would live. We did not comprehend what he meant. Neither did 
 the Twelve in the days of the Savior comprehend what He meant 
 when He said, "I am going away from you ; if I go not the Com- 
 forter will not come unto you." So we did not understand Joseph 
 when he said that he would not live to see that Temple completed ; 
 it was not given to us to realize it at that time. 
 
 After addressing us in this manner he said: "I tell you the 
 burden of this kingdom now rests upon your shoulders ; you have 
 got to bear it off in all the world, and if you don't do it you will be 
 damned." That was pretty strong language, but it was full of 
 meaning, it was full of significance. Joseph was trained in the 
 Priesthood before he came to this planet. He understood the Priest- 
 hood perfectly before he came here. He understood its work and 
 its lineage, so far as lineage applies to offices in the Priesthood. 
 He also understood that he was going away from this earth; but 
 we did not know it until after he was put to death. I was in Boston 
 with President Young the very hour that he and his brother Hyrum 
 were slain. And at that moment there was a power of darkness 
 surrounded us, a feeling of heaviness that I never felt before. I 
 had never seen President Young feel so bad in my life as he did 
 
 that hour. Liahona, the Elders Journal, April 16, 1910. 
 
 MERCY R. THOMPSON DESCRIBES THE PARTING 
 PRIOR TO THE MARTYRDOM 
 
 I was present at a prayer meeting held in the upper room of 
 the brick-stone building, at a time when his enemies were seeking 
 his life. 
 
 At another time — a time never to be forgotten — I was present 
 at a meeting when Joseph knelt down with the small congregation 
 surrounding him, when every sentence he uttered seemed to con- 
 vey to my mind, and to the minds of others present, the impression 
 that this was our last meeting together — and so it was. 
 
 It seemed to me that there was nothing forgotten or omitted 
 by him, at that time, which pertained either to himself or the 
 Church generally. A few days after this he called at his brother 
 Hyrum's to take leave of the family previous to their crossing the 
 Mississippi River, intending to go west to the Rocky Mountains to 
 
160 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 seek out, if possible, a place of peace and safety for the Saints. 
 His parting words to my sister Mary, as she wept at their going, 
 were these : 
 
 "Sister Mary, don't feel bad, the Lord will take care of you, 
 and He will deliver us, but I do not know how." The two brothers 
 then started to cross the river, not knowing whether they would 
 ever see their homes again or not. But on account of the feelings 
 expressed by some of the brethren, who should have been their 
 truest friends, and by their urgent request, sent after them, the 
 brothers returned to Nauvoo the following day. Watching from a 
 chamber window I saw them being rowed in a skiff across the river, 
 until they landed, and walked up the river bank to Hyrum's house, 
 where they both entered, Joseph seating himself, while Hyrum 
 made some changes in his clothing, when they both went on to 
 the Mansion. 
 
 Although I did not know that the brothers had returned home 
 to be taken as "lambs to the slaughter," my feelings were indescrib- 
 able, and the very air seemed burdened with sorrowful forebodings. 
 
 The awful scene at Carthage followed in a few days, and here 
 all men must draw the veil, for until all the truth concerning these 
 good men, and this black deed of their murderous foes, can be told 
 and understood the history of this time will not be written. But 
 the day will come when God will speak, and the Martyrs and their 
 
 history shall be known. Instructor, 27:400. 
 
 THE PROPHET'S LAST ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE 
 
 After the city had been declared under martial law, the Legion 
 was drawn up in front of the mansion to be addressed by the Proph- 
 et. He stood upon the frame of a building opposite his house, 
 dressed in his full uniform as Lieutenant-General. 
 
 William W. Phelps read from an extra issue of the Warsaw 
 Signal* of the day before, calling upon all the old citizens to assist 
 
 *The Warsaw Signal, edited by an infamous man by the name of Thomas 
 Sharp, took a prominent and diabolical part in arousing the spirit of murder. 
 It published the minutes of mob meetings and resolutions adopted there, in 
 which the most fiendish threats were made. Some of them are as follows: 
 
 "We therefore declare that we will sustain our press and the editor at 
 all hazards; that we will take full vengeance, terrible vengeance, should the 
 lives of any of our citizens be lost in the effort; that we hold ourselves at all 
 times in readiness to co-operate with our fellow-citizens in this state, Missouri 
 and Iowa, to exterminate, utterly exterminate the wicked and abominable Mor- 
 mon leaders, the authors of our troubles. 
 
 "Resolved, That a committee of five be appointed forthwith to notify all 
 persons in our township suspected of being the tools of the Prophet to leave 
 immediately on pain of instant vengeance. And we do recommend the inhabi- 
 tants of the adjacent townships to do the same, hereby pledging ourselves to 
 render all the assistance they may require. 
 
 "Resolved, That the time, in our opinion has arrived, when the adherents 
 of Smith, as a body, should be driven from the surrounding settlements into 
 Nauvoo. That the Prophet and his miscreant adherents should then be de- 
 manded at their hands; and, if not surrendered, a war of extermination should 
 be waged, to the entire destruction, if necessary for our protection, of his ad- 
 herents. And we do hereby recommend this resolution to the consideration of 
 the several townships, to the mass convention to be held at Carthage, hereby 
 pledging ourselves to aid to the utmost the complete consummation of the 
 
PERSONAL FAREWELLS OF THE PROPHET 16] 
 
 the mob in exterminating the leaders of the Saints and driving the 
 people into exile. 
 
 Joseph then recounted the doings of the time at Nauvoo, and 
 demonstrated that he and his brethren had been willing and were 
 still as willing as ever to submit to the authority of law ; that they 
 had not transgressed the statutes; and that the effort making 
 against them was the device of Satan. He told them that a pre- 
 text had been sought by their enemies in order that a band of in- 
 furiated mob-men might be congregated to fall upon Nauvoo, to 
 murder, plunder and ravish the innocent. 
 
 The vast assemblage had listened to his words with breathless 
 attention, for he spoke with a power transcending anything that 
 the Saints had ever before heard, even from him whose speech was 
 always soul-touching. Had he expressed a wish to fight, his people 
 would have followed him with joy to the contest. It is no wonder 
 that his words sank deep into their hearts ; it is no wonder that to 
 their sight he appeared grander than mortal. It was the last time 
 for many of them in the flesh that they were to listen to the music 
 of his voice or to feel the spell of his mighty inspiration. It was 
 his last public address ! In a few short days that god-like form, so 
 perfect in its manly beauty, was to be locked in the embrace of the 
 tomb ; and that voice, whose angelic sweetness had comforted them 
 in the hour of darkest woe, was to be hushed in death. 
 
 On the 20th of June he wrote to all the Apostles who were 
 absent on missions to come home immediately. Only two of the 
 Twelve were with him, Apostle John Taylor and Willard Richards. 
 He had often stated to the Twelve that upon them would devolve 
 the work when he was gone, and he knew that their presence would 
 soon be needed. His consciousness of his impending fate and his 
 fortitude were divine. His last deeds and his last thoughts were 
 for the cause and the people whom he loved. 
 
 Life of the Prophet Joseph, By George Q. Cannon, pp. 467-8. 
 
 JOSEPH DESIRED HYRUM TO AVENGE HIS BLOOD 
 
 By George Q. Cannon 
 
 About this time, Joseph wrote also to those of the Twelve 
 Apostles who were absent on missions, to come home immediately, 
 as he was anxious to have them with him ; for he felt that trouble 
 was thickening around him ; and no doubt he desired to have his 
 friends — the men he could rely upon near to him in the hour of 
 difficulty. 
 
 He was anxious to get Hyrum, his brother, out of the way. 
 He advised him to take his family on the next steamboat to Cincin- 
 nati. If anything happened to himself, he was anxious that Hyrum 
 should live. Said he : "I wish I could get Hyrum out of the way, so 
 that he may live to avenge my blood ; and I will stay with you and 
 
 object in view, that we may thereby be utterly relieved of the alarm, anxiety 
 and trouble to which we are now subjected. 
 
 "Resolved, That every citizen arm himself to be prepared to sustain the 
 resolutions herein contained." 
 
 History of Joseph the Prophet, By George Q. Cannon, pp. 461-2. 
 
162 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 see it out." But Hyrum could not be moved. If Joseph suffered and 
 died, he was determined to suffer and die with him. Said he to the 
 prophet : "Joseph, I cannot leave you." Instructor, Vol. 15. 
 
 The Prophet Joseph Instructs the Twelve to Return to Nauvoo 
 
 Dear Brother B. Young: Nauvoo, June 17, 1844. 
 
 There has been for several days a great excitement among the 
 inhabitants in the adjoining counties. Mass meetings are held upon 
 mass meetings, drawing up resolutions to utterly exterminate the 
 saints. The excitement has been gotten up by the Laws, Fosters and 
 the Higbees, and they themselves have left the city, and are engaged 
 in the mob. They have sent their runners into the State of Missouri 
 to excite them to murder and bloodshed, and the report is that a 
 great many hundreds of them will come over to take an active part 
 in murdering the saints. The excitement is very great indeed. 
 
 It is thought by myself and others for you to return without 
 delay, and the rest of the Twelve and all the Elders that have gone 
 out from this place, and as many more good, faithful men as feel 
 disposed to come up with them. Let wisdom be exercised ; and what- 
 ever they do, do it without a noise. You know we are not frightened, 
 but think it best to be well prepared and be ready for the onset ; and 
 if it is extermination, extermination it is of course. Communicate 
 to the others of the Twelve with as much speed as possible, with 
 perfect stillness and calmness. A word to the wise is sufficient, 
 and a little powder, lead and a good rifle, can be packed in your 
 luggage very easy without creating any suspicion. 
 
 In haste, I remain yours in the firm bonds of the new and 
 everlasting covenant. Hyrum Smith. 
 
 Large bodies of armed men, cannon and munitions of war are 
 coming on from Missouri in steamboats. These facts are communi- 
 cated to the Governor and President of the United States, and you 
 will readily see that you will have to prepare for the onset. 
 
 In the bonds of the new and everlasting covenant, I remain 
 yours, Joseph Smith. 
 
 The reader should bear in mind that not only the entire quo- 
 rum of the Twelve, excepting John Taylor and Willard Richards, 
 were scattered on missions in the States east, but that about five 
 hundred of the ablest, strong-willed Elders were also from home 
 on the same campaign. To this fact, indeed, is largely to be ascribed 
 the opportunity of the martyrdom. It was Brigham Young's re- 
 peated affirmation ever after the death of his chief, that, had he, 
 with the Twelve, been home, Joseph should not have been given up. 
 Life of Joseph the Prophet, By Edw. W. Tullidge, pp. 480-82. 
 
 THE PROPHET JOSEPH HAD COMPLETED HIS WORK 
 
 By Parley P. Pratt 
 
 This great and good man was led, before his death, to call 
 the Twelve together from time to time and to instruct them in all 
 
PERSONAL FAREWELLS OF THE PROPHET 163 
 
 things pertaining to the kingdom, ordinances and government of 
 God. He often observed that he was laying the foundation, but it 
 would remain for the Twelve to complete the building. Said he: 
 "I know not why; but for some reason I am constrained to hasten 
 my preparations, and to confer upon the Twelve all the ordinances, 
 keys, covenants, endowments, and sealing ordinances of the priest- 
 hood, and so set before them a pattern in all things pertaining to 
 the sanctuary and the endowment therein." 
 
 Having done this, he rejoiced exceedingly; "for," said he, "the 
 Lord is about to lay the burden on your shoulders and let me rest 
 awhile; and if they kill me," continued he, "the kingdom of God 
 will roll on, as I have now finished the ivork which was laid upon 
 me, by committing to you all things for the building up of the king- 
 dom according to the heavenly vision, and the pattern shown me 
 from heaven" With many conversations like this he comforted the 
 minds of the Twelve, and prepared them for what was soon to 
 follow. Millennial Star, 5:151. 
 
 THE PROPHETS TESTIMONY IN CARTHAGE JAIL 
 
 Joseph bore a powerful testimony to the guards of the divine 
 authenticity of the Book of Mormon, the restoration of the Gospel, 
 the administration of angels, and that the kingdom of God was 
 again established upon the earth, for the sake of which he was 
 then incarcerated in that prison, and not because he had violated 
 any law of God or man. 
 
 Said Joseph, "Our lives have already become jeopardized by 
 revealing the wicked and bloodthirsty purposes of our enemies; 
 and for the future we must cease to do so. All we have said about 
 them is truth, but it is not always wise to relate all the truth. Even 
 Jesus, the Son of God had to refrain from doing so, and had to 
 restrain His feelings many times for the safety of Himself and 
 His followers, and had to conceal the righteous purposes of His 
 heart in relation to many things pertaining to His Father's king- 
 dom. When still a boy He had all the intelligence necessary to 
 enable Him to rule and govern the kingdom of the Jews, and could 
 reason with the wisest and most profound doctors of law and 
 divinity, and make their theories and practice to appear like folly 
 compared with the wisdom He possessed; but He was a boy only, 
 and lacked physical strength even to defend His own person, and 
 was subject to cold, to hunger and to death. So it is with the 
 Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ; we have the revelation 
 of Jesus, and the knowledge within us is sufficient to organize a 
 righteous government upon the earth, and to give universal peace 
 to all mankind, if they would receive it, but we lack the physical 
 strength, as did our Savior when a child, to defend our principles, 
 and we have of necessity to be afflicted, persecuted and smitten, 
 and to bear it patiently until Jacob is of age, then he will take 
 care of himself." d. H. C. 6:600, 608. 
 
CHAPTER 9 
 
 The Martyrdom 
 
 TWO MINUTES IN JAIL 
 
 By Willard Richards 
 
 Possibly the following events occupied near three minutes, but 
 I think only about two, and have penned them for the gratification 
 of many friends: 
 
 Carthage, June 27, 1844. 
 
 A shower of musket balls were thrown up the stairway against 
 the door of the prison in the second story, followed by many rapid 
 footsteps. 
 
 While Generals Joseph and Hyrum Smith, Mr. Taylor and 
 myself, who were in the front chamber, closed the door of our 
 room against the entry at the head of the stairs, and placed our- 
 selves against it, there being no lock on the door, and no catch 
 that was useable. 
 
 The door is a common panel, and as soon as we heard the feet at 
 the stairs head, a ball was sent through the door, which passed 
 between us, and showed that our enemies were desperadoes, and 
 we must change our position. 
 
 General Joseph Smith, Mr. Taylor, and myself sprang back to 
 the front part of the room and General Hyrum Smith retreated 
 two-thirds across the chamber directly in front of and facing the 
 door. 
 
 A ball was sent through the door which hit Hyrum on the 
 side of his nose, when he fell backwards, extended at length, with- 
 out moving his feet. 
 
 From the holes in his vest (the day was warm, and no one had 
 their coats on but myself), pantaloons, drawers, and shirt, it ap- 
 peared evident that a ball must have been thrown from without, 
 through the window, which entered his back on the right side, 
 and passing through lodged against his watch, which was in his 
 right vest pocket, completely pulverizing the crystal and face, 
 tearing off the hands and mashing the whole body of the watch. 
 At the same instant the ball from the door entered his nose. 
 
 As he struck the floor he exclaimed emphatically, "I'm a dead 
 man." Joseph looked towards him and responded, "Oh dear ! Brother 
 Hyrum," and opening the door two or three inches with his left 
 hand, discharged one barrel of a six-shooter (pistol) at random in 
 the entry, from whence a ball grazed Hyrum's breast, and enter- 
 ing his throat passed into his head, while other muskets were 
 aimed at him and some balls hit him. 
 
 Joseph continued snapping his revolver round the casing of 
 the door into the space as before, three barrels of which missed 
 fire, while Mr. Taylor with a walking stick stood by his side and 
 knocked down the bayonets and muskets which were constantly 
 
THE MARTYRDOM 165 
 
 discharging through the doorway, while I stood by him, ready to 
 lend any assistance, with another stick, but could not come within 
 striking distance without going directly before the muzzles of the 
 guns. 
 
 When the revolver failed, we had no more firearms, and ex- 
 pected an immediate rush of the mob, and the doorway full of 
 muskets, half way in the room, and no hope but instant death from 
 within. 
 
 Mr. Taylor rushed into the window, which is some fifteen or 
 twenty feet from the ground. When his body was nearly on a bal- 
 ance, a ball from the door within entered his leg, and a ball from 
 without struck his watch, a patent lever, in his vest pocket near 
 the left breast, and smashed it into pi, leaving the hands standing 
 at 5 o'clock, 16 minutes, and 26 seconds, the force of which ball 
 threw him back on the floor, and he rolled under the bed which 
 stood by his side, where he lay motionless, the mob from the door 
 continuing to fire upon him, cutting away a piece of flesh from his 
 left hip as large as a man's hand, and were hindered only by my 
 knocking down their muzzles with a stick; while they continued 
 to reach their guns into the room, probably left handed, and aimed 
 their discharge so far round as almost to reach us in the corner 
 of the room to where we retreated and dodged, and then I recom- 
 menced the attack with my stick. 
 
 Joseph attempted, as the last resort, to leap the same window 
 from whence Mr. Taylor fell, when two balls pierced him from the 
 door, and one entered his right breast from without, and he fell 
 outward, exclaiming, "0 Lord, my God." As his feet went out of 
 the window my head went in, the balls whistling all around. He 
 fell on his left side a dead man. 
 
 At this instant the cry was raised, "He's leaped the window" 
 and the mob on the stairs and in the entry ran out. 
 
 I withdrew from the window, thinking it of no use to leap out 
 on a hundred bayonets, then around General Smith's body. 
 
 Not satisfied with this I again reached my head out of the 
 window, and watched some seconds to see if there were any signs 
 of life, regardless of my own, determined to see the end of him I 
 loved. Being fully satisfied that he was dead, with a hundred men 
 near the body and more coming round the corner of the jail, and 
 expecting a return to our room, I rushed towards the prison door, 
 at the head of the stairs, and through the entry from whence the 
 firing had proceeded, to learn if the doors into the prison were 
 open. 
 
 When near the entry, Mr. Taylor cried out, "Take me." I 
 pressed my way until I found all doors unbarred, returning in- 
 stantly, caught Mr. Taylor under my arm, and rushed by the stairs 
 into the dungeon, or inner prison, stretched him on the floor and 
 covered him with a bed in such a manner as not likely to be per- 
 ceived, expecting an immediate return of the mob. I said to Mr. 
 Taylor. "This is a hard case to lay you on the floor, but if your 
 wounds are not fatal, I want you to live to tell the story." I ex- 
 pected to be shot the next moment, and stood before the door 
 awaiting the onset. D.H.C., 7:619-21. 
 
166 
 
 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 CARTHAGE JAIL IN 1855. 
 
 
 WELL AT CARTHAGE JAIL IN 1855. 
 
THE MARTYRDOM 167 
 
 AN ACCOUNT OF THE MARTYRDOM OF JOSEPH SMITH 
 
 By President John Taylor 
 
 Being requested by Elders George A. Smith and Wilf ord Wood- 
 ruff, Church historians, to write an account of events that trans- 
 pired before, and took place at, the time of the martyrdom of 
 Joseph Smith, in Carthage jail, in Hancock County, State of 
 Illinois, I write the following, principally from memory, not having 
 
 CARTHAGE JAIL 
 
 The two illustrations opposite were sketched by Frederick Piercy in 1855, 
 and were reproduced in the book: "Route from Liverpool to Great Salt Lake 
 Valley." It is very probable that the jail and well looked exactly in 1844 as 
 in 1855. Special attention is directed to the well, it was against it that the 
 Prophet was set when four of the mob shot him. 
 
 In the book above quoted, Mr. Piercey says: "The landlord of the tavern 
 (Hamilton House) took me to the jail and obtained admittance for me. The 
 keeper was away, and I was shown over it by a young girl. The holes made 
 in the wall by the bullets still remain unstopped. The bullet hole in the door 
 is that made by the ball which caused the death of Hyrum. I was told that the 
 stains of blood were still in the floor, but I could not see them, as the room was 
 covered by a carpet. *** Having seen the place and made my sketches, I was 
 glad to leave. Two lives unatoned for, and 'blood crying from the ground,' 
 
 made the spot hateful." 
 
 * * * * 
 
 Carthage jail was erected in 1839-40 by Wm. Metcalf as contractor, at a 
 cost of $4,105.00. It is constructed of yellow limestone, taken from a quarry 
 four miles northeast of the building. In 1866 Hancock county sold the jail to 
 Bryant F. Petersen for $1,100.00. He sold it to James M. Browning for 
 $1500.00. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints through President 
 Joseph F. Smith as trustee-in-trust, purchased it from Mrs. Eliza M. Browning, 
 widow of James M. Browning, for $4,000, by deed dated November 4, (1903). 
 
 There are three rooms on the ground floor: a living room, dining room and 
 the debtor's room, with an attached kitchen which is seen in both illustrations 
 of the jail produced in this book. The upper story contained the jailor's bed- 
 room in which the Prophet and his three companions were at the time of the 
 martyrdom, and the cell room (12' x 24Vz') to the north of the stair landing 
 which was partitioned by bars. It was in this cell room that Willard Richards 
 carried John Taylor at the time of the tragedy. 
 
 (See booklet published by Joseph A. McRae, entitled: "The Historic Carth- 
 age Jail." 
 
 access at this time to any public documents relative thereto farther 
 than a few desultory items contained in Ford's "History of Illi- 
 nois. " I must also acknowledge myself considerably indebted to 
 George A. Smith who was with me when I wrote it, and who, aj- 
 though not there at the time of the bloody transaction, yet, from 
 conversing with several persons who were in the capacity of 
 Church historians, and aided by an excellent memory, has rendered 
 me considerable service. 
 
 These and the few items contained in the note at the end of 
 this account are all the aid I have had. I would further add that the 
 items contained in the letter, in relation to dates especially, may be 
 considered strictly correct. 
 
168 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 After having written the whole, I read it over to the Hon. 
 J. M. Bernhisel, who with one or two slight alterations, pronounced 
 it strictly correct. Brother Bernhisel was present most of the time. 
 I am afraid that, from the length of time that has transpired since 
 the occurrence, and having to rely almost exclusively upon my 
 memory, there may be some slight inaccuracies, but I believe that 
 in the general it is strictly correct. As I figured in those trans- 
 actions from the commencement to the end, they left no slight im- 
 pression on my mind. 
 
 In the year 1844, a very great excitement prevailed in some 
 parts of Hancock, Brown and other neighboring counties of Illinois, 
 in relation to the Mormons, and a spirit of vindictive hatred and 
 persecution was exhibited among the people, which was manifested 
 in the most bitter and acrimonious language, as well as by acts of 
 hostility and violence, frequently threatening the destruction of 
 the citizens of Nauvoo and vicinity, and utter annihilation of the 
 Mormons and Mormonism, and in some instances breaking out in 
 the most violent acts of ruffianly barbarity. Persons were kid- 
 napped, whipped, persecuted and falsely accused of various crimes ; 
 their cattle and houses injured, destroyed, or stolen; vexatious 
 prosecutions were instituted to harass and annoy. In some remote 
 neighborhoods they were expelled from their homes without re- 
 dress, and in others violence was threatened to their persons and 
 property, while in others every kind of insult and indignity were 
 heaped upon them, to induce them to abandon their homes, the 
 County or the State. 
 
 These annoyances, prosecutions and persecutions were insti- 
 gated through different agencies and by various classes of men, 
 actuated by different motives, but all uniting in the one object 
 — prosecution, persecution and extermination of the Saints. 
 
 There were a number of wicked and corrupt men living in 
 Nauvoo and its vicinity, who had belonged to the Church, but 
 whose conduct was incompatible with the Gospel; they were ac- 
 cordingly dealt with by the Church and severed from its com- 
 munion. Some of these had been prominent members, and held 
 official stations either in the city or Church. Among these were 
 John C. Bennett, formerly mayor; William Law, counselor to 
 Joseph Smith; Wilson Law, his natural brother, and general in 
 the Nauvoo Legion; Dr. R. D. Foster, a man of some property, 
 but with a very bad reputation; Francis and Chauncey Higbee, 
 the latter a young lawyer, and both sons of a respectable and 
 honored man in the Church, known as Judge Elias Higbee, who 
 died about twelve months before. 
 
 Besides these, there were a great many apostates, both in 
 the city and county, of less notoriety, who for their delinquen- 
 cies, had been expelled from the Church. John C. Bennett and 
 Francis and Chauncey Higbee were cut off from the Church; the 
 former was also cashiered from his generalship for the most 
 flagrant acts of seduction and adultery; and the developments 
 in the cases were so scandalous that the High Council, before 
 which they were tried, had to sit with closed doors. 
 
 William Law, although counselor to Joseph, was found to be 
 
THE MARTYRDOM 169 
 
 his most bitter foe and maligner, and to hold intercourse, con- 
 trary to all law, in his own house, with a young lady resident 
 with him; and it was afterwards proven that he had conspired 
 with some Missourians to take Joseph Smith's life, and was only 
 saved by Josiah Arnold and Daniel Garn, who, being on guard 
 at his house, prevented the assassins from seeing him. Yet, al- 
 though having murder in his heart, his manners were generally 
 courteous and mild, and he was well calculated to deceive. 
 
 General Wilson Law was cut off from the Church for seduc- 
 tion, falsehood, and defamation; both the above were also court- 
 martialed by the Nauvoo Legion, and expelled. Foster was also 
 cut off I believe, for dishonesty, fraud and falsehood. I know he 
 was eminently guilty of the whole, but whether these were the 
 specific charges or not, I don't know, but I do know that he was 
 a notoriously wicked and corrupt man. 
 
 Besides the above characters and Mormonic apostates, there 
 were three other parties. The first of these may be called religion- 
 ists, the second politicians, and the third counterfeiters, black- 
 legs, horse-thieves and cut-throats. 
 
 The religious party were chagrined and maddened because 
 Mormonism came in contact with their religion, and they could 
 not oppose it from the scriptures. Thus like the ancient Jews, 
 when enraged at the exhibition of their follies and hypocrisies 
 by Jesus and His apostles, so these were infuriated against the 
 Mormons because of their discomfiture by them; and instead of 
 owning the truth and rejoicing in it, they were ready to gnash 
 upon them with their teeth, and to persecute the believers in 
 principles which they could not disprove. 
 
 The political party were those who were of opposite politics 
 to us. There were always two parties, the Whigs and Democrats, 
 and we could not vote for one without offending the other; and it 
 not unfrequently happened that candidates for office would place 
 the issue of their election upon opposition to the Mormons, in 
 order to gain political influence from the religious prejudices, in 
 which case the Mormons were compelled, in self-defense, to vote 
 against them, which resulted almost invariably against our op- 
 ponents. This made them angry; and although it was of their 
 own making, and the Mormons could not be expected to do other- 
 wise, yet they raged on account of their discomfiture, and sought 
 to wreak their fury on the Mormons. As an instance of the above, 
 when Joseph Duncan was candidate for the office of governor 
 of Illinois, he pledged himself to his party that, if he could be 
 elected, he would exterminate or drive the Mormons from the 
 State.* The consequence was that Governor Ford was elected. 
 The Whigs, seeing that they had been out-generaled by the Demo- 
 crats in securing the Mormon vote, became seriously alarmed, 
 and sought to repair their disaster by raising a crusade against 
 the people. The Whig newspapers teemed with accounts of the 
 wonders and enormities of Nauvoo, and of the awful wickedness 
 of a party which could consent to receive the support of such mis- 
 
 *See his remarks as contained in his History of Illinois, p. 269. 
 
170 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 creants. Governor Duncan, who was really a brave, honest man, 
 and who had nothing to do with getting the Mormon charters 
 passed through the Legislature, took the stump on this subject 
 in good earnest, and expected to be elected governor almost on 
 this question alone. 
 
 The third party, composed of counterfeiters, black-legs, horse- 
 thieves and cut-throats, were a pack of scoundrels that infested 
 the whole of the western country at that time. In some districts 
 their influence was so great as to control important State and 
 County offices. On this subject Governor Ford has the following: 
 
 "Then, again, the northern part of the State was not desti- 
 tute of its organized bands of rogues, engaged in murders, rob- 
 beries, horse-stealing and in making and passing counterfeit 
 money. These rogues were scattered all over the north, but the 
 most of them were located in the counties of Ogle, Winnebago, 
 Lee and De Kalb. 
 
 "In the County of Ogle they were so numerous, strong, and 
 well organized that they could not be convicted for their crimes. 
 By getting some of their numbers on the juries, by producing a 
 host of witnesses to sustain their defense, by perjured evidence, 
 and by changing the venue of one County to another, by con- 
 tinuances from term to term, and by the inability of witnesses to 
 attend from time to time at distant and foreign Counties, they 
 most generally managed to be acquitted."* 
 
 There was a combination of horse-thieves extending from 
 Galena to Alton. There were counterfeiters engaged in merchan- 
 dising, trading, and store-keeping in most of the cities and vil- 
 lages, and in some districts, I have been credibly informed by 
 men to whom they have disclosed their secrets, the judges, sheriffs, 
 constables, and jailers, as well as professional men, were more 
 or less associated with them. These had in their employ the most 
 reckless, abandoned wretches, who stood ready to carry into ef- 
 fect the most desperate enterprises, and were careless alike of 
 human life and property. Their object in persecuting the Mor- 
 mons was in part to cover their own rascality, and in part to pre- 
 vent them from exposing and prosecuting them; but the principal 
 reason was plunder, believing that if they could be removed or 
 driven they would be made fat on Mormon spoils, besides having 
 in the deserted city a good asylum for the prosecution of their 
 diabolical pursuits. 
 
 This conglomeration of apostate Mormons, religious bigots, 
 political fanatics and black-legs, all united their forces against 
 the Mormons, and organized themselves into a party, denominated 
 anti-Mormons. Some of them, we have reason to believe, joined 
 the Church in order to cover their infamous practices, and when 
 they were expelled for their unrighteousness only raged with 
 greater violence. They circulated every kind of falsehood that 
 they could collect or manufacture against the Mormons. They 
 also had a paper to assist them in their nefarious designs, called 
 the Warsaiv Signal, edited by a Mr. Thomas Sharp, a violent and 
 
 * Ford's History of Illinois, p. 246. 
 
THE MARTYRDOM 171 
 
 unprincipled man, who shrunk not from any enormity. The anti- 
 Mormons had public meetings, which were very numerously at- 
 tended, where they passed resolutions of the most violent and in- 
 flammatory kind, threatening to drive, expel and exterminate the 
 Mormons from the State, at the same time accusing them of 
 every evil in the vocabulary of crime. 
 
 They appointed their meetings in various parts of Hancock, 
 M'Donough, and other counties, which soon resulted in the or- 
 ganization of armed mobs, under the direction of officers who 
 reported to their headquarters, and the reports of which were 
 published in the anti-Mormon paper, and circulated through the 
 adjoining counties. We also published in the Times and Seasons 
 and the Nauvoo Neighbor (two papers published and edited by 
 me at that time) an account, not only of their proceedings, but 
 our own. But such was the hostile feeling, so well arranged their 
 plans, and so desperate and lawless their measures, that it was 
 with the greatest difficulty that we could get our papers circu- 
 lated ; they were destroyed by postmasters and others, and scarcely 
 ever arrived at the place of their destination, so that a great 
 many of the people, who would have been otherwise peaceable, 
 were excited by their misrepresentations, and instigated to join 
 their hostile or predatory bands. 
 
 Emboldened by the acts of those outside, the apostate Mor- 
 mons, associated with others, commenced the publication of a 
 libelous paper in Nauvoo, called the Nauvoo Expositor. This paper 
 not only reprinted from the others, but put in circulation the most 
 libelous, false, and infamous reports concerning the citizens of 
 Nauvoo, and especially the ladies. It was, however, no sooner put 
 in circulation than the indignation of the whole community was 
 aroused; so much so, that they threatened its annihilation; and 
 I do not believe that in any other city of the United States, if the 
 same charges had been made against the citizens, it would have 
 been permitted to remain one day. As it was among us, under 
 these circumstances, it was thought best to convene the city 
 council to take into consideration the adoption of some measures 
 for its removal, as it was deemed better that this should be done 
 legally than illegally. Joseph Smith, therefore, who was mayor, 
 convened the city council for that purpose; the paper was intro- 
 duced and read, and the subject examined. All, or nearly all pres- 
 ent, expressed their indignation at the course taken by the 
 Expositor, which was owned by some of the aforesaid apostates, 
 associated with one or two others. Wilson Law, Dr. Foster, 
 Charles Ivins and the Higbees before referred to, some lawyers, 
 storekeepers, and others in Nauvoo who were not Mormons, to- 
 gether with the anti-Mormons outside of the city, sustained it. 
 The calculation was, by false statements, to unsettle the minds 
 of many in the city, and to form combinations there similar to the 
 anti-Mormon associations outside of the city. Various attempts 
 had heretofore been made by the party to annoy and irritate the 
 citizens of Nauvoo; false accusations had been made, vexatious 
 lawsuits instituted, threats made, and various devices resorted to, 
 to influence the public mind, and, if possible, to provoke us to the 
 
172 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 commission of some overt act that might make us amenable to 
 the law. With a perfect knowledge, therefore, of the designs of 
 these infernal scoundrels who were in our midst, as well as those 
 who surrounded us, the city council entered upon an investiga- 
 tion of the matter. They felt that they were in a critical position, 
 and that any move made for the abating of that press would be 
 looked upon, or at least represented, as a direct attack upon the 
 liberty of speech, and that, so far from displeasing our enemies, 
 it would be looked upon by them as one of the best circumstances 
 that could transpire to assist them in their nefarious and bloody 
 designs. Being a member of the city council, I well remember the 
 feeling of responsibility that seemed to rest upon all present; nor 
 shall I soon forget the bold, manly, independent expressions of 
 Joseph Smith on that occasion in relation to this matter. He ex- 
 hibited in glowing colors the meanness, corruption, and ultimate 
 designs of the anti-Mormons; their despicable characters and un- 
 godly influences, especially of those who were in our midst. He 
 told of the responsibility that rested upon us, as guardians of the 
 public interest, to stand up in the defense of the injured and op- 
 pressed, to stem the current of corruption, and, as men and 
 Saints, to put a stop to this flagrant outrage upon this people's 
 rights. 
 
 He stated that no man was a stronger advocate for the liberty 
 of speech and of the press than himself : yet, when this noble gift 
 is utterly prostituted and abused, as in the present instance, it 
 loses all claim to our respect, and becomes as great an agent for 
 evil as it can possibly be for good; and notwithstanding the ap- 
 parent advantage we should give our enemies by this act, yet it 
 behooved us, as men, to act independent of all secondary influ- 
 ences, to perform the part of men of enlarged minds, and boldly 
 and fearlessly to discharge the duties devolving upon us by de- 
 claring as a nuisance, and removing this filthy, libelous, and sedi- 
 tious sheet from our midst. 
 
 The subject was discussed in various forms, and after the 
 remarks made by the mayor, every one seemed to be waiting for 
 some one else to speak. 
 
 After a considerable pause, I arose and expressed my feelings 
 frankly, as Joseph had done, and numbers of others followed in 
 the same strain; and I think, but am not certain, that I made a 
 motion for the removal of that press as a nuisance. This motion 
 was finally put, and carried by all but one; and he conceded that 
 the measure was just, but abstained through fear. 
 
 Several members of the city council were not in the Church. 
 The following is the bill referred to: 
 
 Bill for Removing of the Press of the "Nauvoo Expositor."* 
 
 Resolved by the city council of the city of Nauvoo, that the printing- 
 office from whence issues the Nauvoo Expositor is a public nuisance; and 
 also of said Nauvoo Expositors which may be or exist in said establishment; 
 and the mayor is instructed to cause said establishment and papers to be 
 removed without delay, in such manner as he shall direct. 
 
 Passed June 10th, 1844. Geo. W. Harris, President pro tern. 
 
 W. Richards, Recorder. 
 
 *Deseret News, No. 29, Sept. 23, 1857, p. 226. 
 
THE MARTYRDOM 173 
 
 After the passage of the bill, the marshal, John P. Greene, 
 was ordered to abate or remove, which he forthwith proceeded to 
 do by summoning a posse of men for that purpose. The press 
 was removed or broken, I don't remember which, by the marshal, 
 and the types scattered in the street. 
 
 This seemed to be one of those extreme cases that require 
 extreme measures, as the press was still proceeding in its inflam- 
 matory course. It was feared that, as it was almost universally 
 execrated, should it continue longer, an indignant people might 
 commit some overt act which might lead to serious consequences, 
 and that it was better to use legal than illegal means. 
 
 This, as was foreseen, was the very course our enemies wished 
 us to pursue, as it afforded them an opportunity of circulating a 
 very plausible story about the Mormons being opposed to the 
 liberty of the press and of free speech, which they were not slow 
 to avail themselves of. Stories were fabricated, and facts per- 
 verted; false statements were made, and this act brought in as 
 an example to sustain the whole of their fabrications; and, as if 
 inspired by Satan, they labored with an energy and zeal worthy 
 of a better cause. They had runners to circulate their reports, 
 not only through Hancock County, but in all the surrounding 
 counties. These reports were communicated to their anti-Mor- 
 mon societies, and these societies circulated them in their several 
 districts. The anti-Mormon paper, the Warsaw Signal, was filled 
 with inflammatory articles and misrepresentations in relation to 
 us, and especially to this act of destroying the press. We were 
 represented as a horde of lawless ruffians and brigands, anti- 
 American and anti-republican, steeped in crime and iniquity, op- 
 posed to freedom of speech and of the press, and all the rights 
 and immunities of a free and enlightened people; that neither 
 person nor property were secure: that we had designs upon the 
 citizens of Illinois and of the United States, and the people were 
 called upon to rise en masse, and put us down, drive us away, or 
 exterminate us as a pest to society, and alike dangerous to our 
 neighbors, the State, and commonwealth. 
 
 These statements were extensively copied and circulated 
 throughout the United States. A true statement of the facts in 
 question was published by us both in the Times and Seasons and 
 the Nauvoo Neighbor; but it was found impossible to circulate 
 them in the immediate counties, as they were destroyed in the 
 post-offices or otherwise by the agents of the anti-Mormons, and 
 in order to get the mail to go abroad, I had to send the papers a 
 distance of thirty or forty miles from Nauvoo, and sometimes to 
 St. Louis (upward of two hundred miles), in insure their pro- 
 ceeding on their route, and then one-half or two-thirds of the 
 papers never reached the place of destination, being intercepted 
 or destroyed by our enemies. 
 
 These false reports stirred up the community around, of whom 
 many, on account of religious prejudice, were easily instigated 
 to join the anti-Mormons and embark in any crusade that might 
 be undertaken against us: hence their ranks swelled in numbers, 
 and new organizations were formed, meetings were held, resolu- 
 
174 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 tions passed, and men and means volunteered for the extirpation 
 of the Mormons. 
 
 On these points Governor Ford writes: "These also were the 
 active men in blowing up the fury of the people, in hopes that a 
 popular movement might be set on foot, which would result in 
 the expulsion or extermination of the Mormon voters. For this 
 purpose public meetings had been called, inflammatory speeches 
 had been made, exaggerated reports had been extensivly circu- 
 lated, committees had been appointed, who rode night and day 
 to spread the reports and solicit the aid of neighboring counties, 
 and at a public meeting at Warsaw resolutions were passed to 
 expel or exterminate the Mormon population. This was not, how- 
 ever, a movement which was unanimously concurred in. The 
 county contained a goodly number of inhabitants in favor of peace, 
 or who at least desired to be neutral in such a contest. These were 
 stigmatized by the name of Jack-Mormons, and there were not a 
 few of the more furious exciters of the people who openly ex- 
 pressed their intention to involve them in the common expulsion 
 or extermination. 
 
 "A system of excitement and agitation was artfully planned 
 and executed with tact. It consisted in spreading reports and 
 rumors of the most fearful character. As examples : On the morn- 
 ing before my arrival at Carthage, I was awakened at any early 
 hour by the frightful report, which was asserted with confidence 
 and apparent consternation, that the Mormons had already com- 
 menced the work of burning, destruction, and murder, and that 
 every man capable of bearing arms was instantly wanted at 
 Carthage for the protection of the county. 
 
 "We lost no time in starting ; but when we arrived at Carthage 
 we could hear no more concerning this story. Again, during the 
 few days that the militia were encamped at Carthage, frequent 
 applications were made to me to send a force here, and a force 
 there, and a force all about the country, to prevent murders, rob- 
 beries, and larcenies which, it was said, were threatened by the 
 Mormons. No such forces were sent, nor were any such offenses 
 committed at that time, except the stealing of some provisions, 
 and there was never the least proof that this was done by a 
 Mormon. Again, on my late visit to Hancock County, I was in- 
 formed by some of their violent enemies that the larcenies of the 
 Mormons had become unusually numerous and insufferable. 
 
 "They admitted that but little had been done in this way in their 
 immediate vicinity, but they insisted that sixteen horses had been 
 stolen by the Mormons in one night near Lima, and, upon inquiry, 
 was told that no horses had been stolen in that neighborhood, but 
 that sixteen horses had been stolen in one night in Hancock 
 County. This last informant being told of the Hancock story, 
 again changed the venue to another distant settlement in the 
 northern edge of Adams/'* 
 
 In the meantime legal proceedings were instituted against the 
 members of the city council of Nauvoo. A writ, here subjoined, 
 
 ♦Ford's History of Illinois, pp. 330-31. 
 
THE MARTYRDOM 
 
 175 
 
 
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 73 
 
 
176 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 was issued upon the affidavit of the Laws, Fosters, Higbees, and 
 Ivins, by Mr. Morrison, a justice of the peace in Carthage, the 
 county seat of Hancock, and put into the hands of one David 
 Bettesworth, a constable of the same place. 
 
 Writ issued upon affidavit by Thomas Morrison, J. P., State of 
 Illinois, Hancock County, ss. 
 
 "The people of the State of Illinois, to all constables, sheriffs, 
 and coroners of said State, greeting: 
 
 "Whereas complaint hath been made before me, one of the 
 justices of the peace in and for the county of Hancock aforesaid, 
 upon the oath of Francis M. Higbee, of the said county, that 
 Joseph Smith, Samuel Bennett, John Taylor, William W. Phelps, 
 Hyrum Smith, John P. Greene, Stephen Perry, Dimick B. Hunt- 
 ington, Jonathan Dunham, Stephen Markham, William Edwards, 
 Jonathan Holmes, Jesse P. Harmon, John Lytle, Joseph W. Cool- 
 idge, Harvey D. Redfield, Porter Rockwell, and Levi Richards, of 
 said county, did, on the tenth day of June instant, commit a riot 
 at and within the county aforesaid, wherein they with force and 
 violence broke into the printing office of the Nauvoo Expositor, 
 and unlawfully and with force burned and destroyed the printing 
 press, type and fixtures of the same, being the property of Wil- 
 liam Law, Wilson Law, Charles Ivins, Francis M. Higbee, Chaun- 
 cey L. Higbee, Robert D. Foster and Charles A. Foster. 
 
 "These are therefore to command you forthwith to appre- 
 hend the said Joseph Smith, Samuel Bennett, John Taylor, Wil- 
 liam W. Phelps, Hyrum Smith, John P. Greene, Stephen Perry, 
 Dimick B. Huntington, Jonathan Dunham, Stephen Markham, 
 William Edwards, Jonathan Holmes, Jesse P. Harmon, John Lytle, 
 Joseph W. Coolidge, Harvey D. Redfield, Porter Rockwell, and 
 Levi Richards, and bring them before me, or some other justice of 
 the peace, to answer the premises, and farther to be dealt with ac- 
 cording to law. 
 
 "Given under my hand and seal at Carthage, in the county 
 aforesaid, this 11th day of June, A. D. 1844. 
 
 "Thomas Morrison, J. P." (Seal.)* 
 
 The council did not refuse to attend to the legal proceedings 
 in the case, but as the law of Illinois made it the privilege of the 
 persons accused to go "or appear before the issuer of the writ, or 
 any other justice of the peace," they requested to be taken before 
 another magistrate, either in the city of Nauvoo or at any reason- 
 able distance out of it. 
 
 This the constable, who was a mobocrat, refused to do ; and as 
 this was our legal privilege we refused to be dragged, contrary to 
 law, a distance of eighteen miles, when at the same time we had 
 reason to believe that an organized band of mobocrats were as- 
 sembled for the purpose of extermination or murder, and among 
 whom it would not be safe to go without a superior force of armed 
 men. A writ of habeas corpus was called for, and issued by the 
 
 *Deseret News, No. 30, Sept. 30, 1857, p. 233. 
 
THE MARTYRDOM 177 
 
 municipal court of Nauvoo, taking us out of the hands of Bettes- 
 worth, and placing us in the charge of the city marshal. We went 
 before the municipal court and were dismissed. Our refusal to obey 
 this illegal proceeding was by them construed into a refusal to 
 submit to law, and circulated as such, and the people either did 
 believe, or professed to believe, that we were in open rebellion 
 against the laws and the authorities of the State. Hence mobs be- 
 gan to assemble, among which all through the country inflamma- 
 tory speeches were made, exciting them to mobocracy and violence. 
 Soon they commenced their depredations in our outside settle- 
 ments, kidnapping some, and whipping and otherwise abusing 
 others. 
 
 The persons thus abused fled to Nauvoo as soon as practicable, 
 and related their injuries to Joseph Smith, then mayor of the city, 
 and lieutenant general of the Nauvoo Legion. They also went be- 
 fore magistrates, and made affidavits of what they had suffered, 
 seen and heard. These affidavits, in connection with a copy of all 
 our proceedings were forwarded by Joseph Smith to Mr. Ford, then 
 governor of Illinois, with an expression of our desire to abide law, 
 and a request that the governor would instruct him how to proceed 
 in the case of arrival of an armed mob against the city. The gov- 
 ernor sent back instructions to Joseph Smith that, as he was 
 lieutenant general of the Nauvoo Legion, it was his duty to pro- 
 tect the city and surrounding country, and issued orders to that 
 effect. Upon the reception of these orders Joseph Smith assembled 
 the people of the city, and laid before them the governor's instruc- 
 tions; he also convened the officers of the Nauvoo Legion for the 
 purpose of conferring in relation to the best mode of defense. He 
 also issued orders to the men to hold themselves in readiness in 
 case of being called upon. On the following day General Joseph 
 Smith, with his staff, the leading officers of the Legion, and some 
 prominent strangers who were in our midst, made a survey of the 
 outside boundaries of the city, which was very extensive, being 
 about five miles up and down the river, and about two and a half 
 back in the center, for the purpose of ascertaining the position of 
 the ground, and the feasibility of defense, and to make all neces- 
 sary arrangements in case of an attack. 
 
 It may be well here to remark that numbers of gentlemen, 
 strangers to us, either came on purpose or were passing through 
 Nauvoo, and upon learning the position of things, expressed their 
 indignation against our enemies, and avowed their readiness to 
 assist us by their counsel or otherwise. It was some of these who 
 assisted us in reconnoitering the city, and finding out its adapta- 
 bility for defense, and how to protect it best against an armed 
 force. The Legion was called together and drilled, and every means 
 made use of for defense. At the call of the officers, old and young 
 men came forward, both from the city and the country, and mus- 
 tered to the number of about five thousand. 
 
 In the meantime our enemies were not idle in mustering their 
 forces and committing depredations, nor had they been; it was, in 
 fact, their gathering that called ours into existence; their forces 
 continued to accumulate ; they assumed a threatening attitude, and 
 
178 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 assembled in large bodies, armed and equipped for war, and threat- 
 ened the destruction and extermination of the Mormons. 
 
 An account of their outrages and assemblages was forwarded 
 to Governor Ford almost daily; accompanied by affidavits furn- 
 ished by eye-witnesses of their proceedings. Persons were also sent 
 out to the counties around with pacific intentions, to give them an 
 account of the true state of affairs, and to notify them of the feel- 
 ings and dispositions of the people of Nauvoo, and thus, if possible, 
 quell the excitement. In some of the more distant counties these 
 men were very successful, and produced the salutary influence upon 
 the minds of many intelligent and well-disposed men. In neighbor- 
 ing counties, however, where anti-Mormon influence prevailed, they 
 produced little effect. At the same time guards were stationed 
 around Nauvoo, and picket-guards in the distance, At length op- 
 posing forces gathered so near that more active measures were 
 taken; reconnoitering parties were sent out, and the city pro- 
 claimed under martial law. Things now assumed a beligerent atti- 
 tude, and persons passing through the city were questioned as to 
 what they knew of the enemy, while passes were in some instances 
 given to avoid difficulty with the guards. Joseph Smith continued 
 to send on messengers to the governor, (Philip B. Lewis and other 
 messengers were sent) . Samuel James, then residing at La Harpe, 
 carried a message and dispatches to him, and in a day or two after 
 Bishop Edward Hunter and others went again with fresh dis- 
 patches, representations, affidavits, and instructions; but as the 
 weather was excessively wet, the rivers swollen, and the bridges 
 washed away in many places, it was with great difficulty that they 
 proceeded on their journeys. As the mobocracy had at last attracted 
 the governor's attention, he started in company with some others 
 from Springfield to the scene of trouble, and missed, I believe, 
 both Brothers James and Hunter on the road, and, of course, did 
 not see their documents. He came to Carthage, and made that 
 place, which was a regular mobocratic den, his headquarters ; as it 
 was the county seat, however, of Hancock County, that circum- 
 stance might, in a measure, justify his staying there. 
 
 To avoid the appearance of all hostility on our part, and to 
 fulfill the law in every particular, at the suggestion of Judge Thom- 
 as, judge of that judicial district, who had come to Nauvoo at the 
 time, and who stated that we had fulfilled the law, but, in order to 
 satisfy all he would counsel us to go before Esquire Wells, who was 
 not in our Church, and have a hearing, we did so, and after a full 
 hearing we were again dismissed. 
 
 The governor on the road collected forces, some of whom were 
 respectable, but on his arrival in the neighborhood of the diffi- 
 culties he received as militia all the companies of the mob forces 
 who united with him. After his arrival at Carthage he sent two 
 gentlemen from there to Nauvoo as a committee to wait upon 
 General Joseph Smith, informing him of the arrival of his excel- 
 lency, with a request that General Smith would send out a com- 
 mittee to wait upon the governor and represent to him the state 
 of affairs in relation to the difficulties that then existed in the 
 county. We met this committee while we were reconnoitering the 
 
THE MARTYRDOM 179 
 
 city, to find out the best mode of defense as aforesaid. Dr. J. M. 
 Bernhisel and myself were appointed as a committee by General 
 Smith to wait upon the governor. Previous to going, however, we 
 were furnished with affidavits and documents in relation both to 
 our proceedings and those of the mob; in addition to the general 
 history of the transaction, we took with us a duplicate of those 
 documents which had been forwarded by Bishop Hunter, Brother 
 James, and others. We started from Nauvoo in company with the 
 aforesaid gentlemen at about 7 o'clock on the evening of the 21st 
 of June, and arrived at Carthage about 11 p.m. 
 
 We put up at the same hotel with the governor, kept by a Mr. 
 Hamilton. On our arrival we found the governor in bed, but not so 
 with the other inhabitants. The town was filled with a perfect set 
 of rabble and rowdies, who, under the influence of Bacchus, seemed 
 to be holding a grand saturnalia, whooping, yelling and vociferat- 
 ing as if Bedlam had broken loose. 
 
 On our arrival at the hotel, and while supper was preparing, 
 a man came to me, dressed as a soldier, and told me that a man 
 named Daniel Garn had just been taken prisoner, and was about 
 to be committed to jail, and wanted me to go bail for him. Believ- 
 ing this to be a ruse to get me out alone, and that some violence 
 was intended, after consulting with Dr. Bernhisel, I told the man 
 that I was well acquainted with Mr. Garn, that I knew him to be 
 a gentleman, and did not believe that he had transgressed law, and, 
 moreover, that I considered it a very singular time to be holding 
 courts and calling for security, particularly as the town was full 
 of rowdyism. 
 
 I informed him that Dr. Bernhisel and myself would, if nec- 
 essary go bail for him in the morning, but that we did not feel 
 ourselves safe among such a set at that late hour of the night. 
 
 After supper, on retiring to our room, we had to pass through 
 another, which was separated from ours only by a board partition, 
 the beds in each room being placed side by side, with the ex- 
 ception of this fragile partition. On the bed that was in the room 
 which we passed through I discovered a man by the name of Jack- 
 son, a desperate character, and a reputed, notorious cut-throat and 
 murderer. I hinted to the doctor that things looked rather sus- 
 picious, and looked to see that my arms were in order. The doctor 
 and I occupied one bed. We had scarcely laid down when a knock 
 at the door, accompanied by a voice announced the approach of 
 Chauncey Higbee, the young lawyer and apostate before referred 
 to. 
 
 He addressed himself to the doctor, and stated that the object 
 of his visit was to obtain the release of Daniel Garn ; that Garn he 
 believed to be an honest man ; that if he had done anything wrong, 
 it was through improper counsel, and that it was a pity that he 
 should be incarcerated, particularly when he could be so easily 
 released; he urged the doctor, as a friend, not to leave so good a 
 man in such an unpleasant situation ; he finally prevailed upon the 
 doctor to go and give bail, assuring him that on his giving bail Garn 
 would be immediately dismissed. 
 
 During this conversation I did not say a word. 
 
180 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 Higbee left the doctor to dress, with the intention of return- 
 ing and taking him to the court. As soon as Higbee had left, I told 
 the doctor that he had better not go ; that I believed this affair was 
 all a ruse to get us separated; that they knew we had documents 
 with us from General Smith to show to the governor; that I be- 
 lieved their object was to get possession of those papers, and, per- 
 haps, when they had separated us, to murder one or both. The 
 doctor, who was actuated by the best of motives in yielding to the 
 assumed solicitude of Higbee, coincided with my views; he then 
 went to Higbee, and told him that he had concluded not to go that 
 night, but that he and I would both wait upon the justice and Mr. 
 Garn in the morning. 
 
 That night I lay awake with my pistols under my pillow, wait- 
 ing for any emergency. Nothing more occurred during the night. 
 In the morning we arose early, and after breakfast sought an inter- 
 view with the governor, and were told that we could have an audi- 
 ence, I think, at ten o'clock. In the meantime we called upon Mr. 
 Smith, a justice of the peace, who had Mr. Garn in charge. We rep- 
 resented that we had been called upon the night before by two 
 different parties to go bail for a Mr. Daniel Garn, whom we were 
 informed he had in custody, and that, believing Mr. Garn to be an 
 honest man, we had now come for that purpose, and were prepared 
 to enter into recognizances for his appearance, whereupon Mr. 
 Smith, the magistrate, remarked that, under the present excited 
 state of affairs, he did not think he would be justified in receiving 
 bail from Nauvoo, as it was a matter of doubt whether property 
 would not be rendered valueless there in a few days. 
 
 Knowing the party we had to deal with, we were not much 
 surprised at this singular proceeding ; we then remarked that both 
 of us possessed property in farms out of Nauvoo in the country, 
 and referred him to the county records. He then stated that such 
 was the nature of the charge against Mr. Garn that he believed 
 he would not be justified in receiving any bail. We were thus con- 
 firmed in our opinion that the night's proceedings before, in relation 
 to their desire to have us give bail, was a mere ruse to separate us. 
 We were not permitted to speak with Garn, the real charge against 
 whom was that he was traveling in Carthage or its neighborhood: 
 what the fictitious one was, if I knew, I have since forgotten, as 
 things of this kind were of daily occurrence. 
 
 After waiting the governor's pleasure for some time we had 
 an audience ; but such an audience ! 
 
 He was surrounded by some of the vilest and most unprin- 
 cipled men in creation ; some of them had an appearance of respect- 
 ability, and many of them lacked even that. Wilson, and, I be- 
 lieve, William Law, were there, Foster, Frank and Chauncey Hig- 
 bee, Mr. Mar, a lawyer from Nauvoo, a mobocratic merchant from 
 Warsaw, the aforesaid Jackson, a number of his associates, among 
 whom was the governor's secretary, in all, some fifteen or twenty 
 persons, most of whom were recreant to virtue, honor, integrity, 
 and everything that is considered honorable among men. I can well 
 remember the feelings of disgust that I had in seeing the governor 
 surrounded by such an infamous group, and on being introduced 
 
THE MARTYRDOM 181 
 
 to men of so questionable a character; and had I been on private 
 business, I should have turned to depart, and told the governor 
 that if he thought proper to associate with such questionable char- 
 acters, I should beg leave to be excused ; but coming as we did on 
 public business, we could not, of course, consult our private feelings. 
 
 We then stated to the governor that, in accordance with his 
 request, General Smith had, in response to his call, sent us to him 
 as a committee of conference ; that we were acquainted with most 
 of the circumstances that had transpired in and about Nauvoo 
 lately, and were prepared to give him all information ; that, more- 
 over, we had in our possession testimony and affidavits confirma- 
 tory of what we should say, which had been forwarded to him by 
 General Joseph Smith; that communications had been forwarded 
 to his excellency by Messrs. Hunter, James, and others, some of 
 which had not reached their destination, but of which we had dupli- 
 cates with us. We then, in brief, related an outline of the diffi- 
 culties, and the course we had pursued from the commencement 
 of the trouble up to the present, and handing him the documents, 
 respectfully submitted the whole. 
 
 During our conversation and explanations with the governor 
 we were frequently, rudely and impudently contradicted by the 
 fellows he had around him, and of whom he seemed to take no 
 notice. 
 
 He opened and read a number of the documents himself, and as 
 he proceeded he was frequently interrupted by, "that's a lie!" 
 "that's a God damned lie !" that's an infernal falsehood !" "that's a 
 blasted lie !" etc. 
 
 These men evidently winced at the exposure of their acts, and 
 thus vulgarly, impudently, and falsely repudiated them. One of 
 their number, Mr. Mar, addressed himself several times to me 
 while in conversation with the governor. I did not notice him until 
 after a frequent repetition of his insolence, when I informed him 
 that "my business at that time was with Governor Ford," where- 
 upon I continued my conversation with his excellency. During the 
 conversation, the governor expressed a desire that Joseph Smith, 
 and all parties concerned in passing or executing the city law in re- 
 lation to the press, had better come to Carthage; that, however 
 repugnant it might be to our feelings, he thought it would have a 
 tendency to allay public excitement, and prove to the people what 
 we professed, that we wished to be governed by law. We repre- 
 sented to him the course we had taken in relation to this matter, 
 and our willingness to go before another magistrate other than 
 the municipal court; the illegal refusal of our request by the con- 
 stable; our dismissal by the municipal court, a legally constituted 
 tribunal; our subsequent trial before 'Squire Wells at the instance 
 of Judge Thomas, the circuit judge, and our dismissal by him; that 
 we had fulfilled the law in every particular ; that it was our enemies 
 who were breaking the law, and, having murderous designs, were 
 only making use of this as a pretext to get us into their power. 
 The governor stated that the people viewed it differently, and that, 
 notwithstanding our opinions, he would recommend that the people 
 should be satisfied. We then remarked to him that, should Joseph 
 
182 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 Smith comply with his request, it would be extremely unsafe, in 
 the present excited state of the country, to come without an armed 
 force ; that we had a sufficiency of men, and were competent to 
 defend ourselves, but there might be danger of collision should our 
 forces and those of our enemies be brought into such close prox- 
 imity. He strenuously advised us not to bring our arms, and 
 pledged his faith as governor, and the faith of the State, that we 
 should be protected, and that he would guarantee our perfect safety. 
 
 We had at that time about five thousand men under arms, one 
 thousand of whom would have been amply sufficient for our 
 protection. 
 
 At the termination of our interview, and previous to our with- 
 drawal, after a long conversation and the perusal of the documents 
 which we had brought, the governor informed us that he would pre- 
 pare a written communication for General Joseph Smith, which he 
 desired us to wait for. We were kept waiting for this instrument 
 some five or six hours. 
 
 About five o'clock in the afternoon we took our departure with 
 not the most pleasant feelings. The associations of the governor, 
 the spirit he manifested to compromise with these scoundrels, the 
 length of time that he had kept us waiting, and his general deport- 
 ment, together with the infernal spirit that we saw exhibited by 
 those whom he had admitted to his councils made the prospect 
 anything but promising. 
 
 We returned on horseback, and arrived at Nauvoo, I think, at 
 about eight or nine o'clock at night, accompanied by Captain Yates 
 in command of a company of mounted men who came for the pur- 
 pose of escorting Joseph Smith and the accused in case of their 
 complying with the governor's request, and going to Carthage. 
 We went directly to Brother Joseph's, when Captain Yates de- 
 livered to him the governor's communication. A council was called, 
 consisting of Joseph's brother, Hyrum, Dr. Richards, Dr. Bern- 
 hisel, myself, and one or two others. 
 
 We then gave a detail of our interview with the governor. 
 Brother Joseph was very much dissatisfied with the governor's 
 letter and with his general deportment, and so were the council, 
 and it became a serious question as to the course we should pursue. 
 Various projects were discussed, but nothing definitely decided 
 upon for some time. 
 
 In the interim two gentlemen arrived ; one of them, if not both, 
 sons of John C. Calhoun. They had come to Nauvoo, and were very 
 anxious for an interview with Brother Joseph. 
 
 These gentlemen detained him for some time; and, as our 
 council was held in Dr. Bernhisel's room in the Mansion House, the 
 doctor lay down ; and as it was now between 2 and 3 o'clock in the 
 morning, and I had had no rest on the previous night, I was fa- 
 tigued, and thinking that Brother Joseph might not return. I left 
 for home and rest. 
 
 Being very much fatigued, I slept soundly, and was somewhat 
 surprised in the morning by Mrs. Thompson entering my room 
 about 7 o'clock, and exclaiming in surprise, "What, you here! the 
 brethren have crossed the river some time since." 
 
THE MARTYRDOM 183 
 
 "What brethren?" I asked. 
 
 "Brother Joseph, and Hyrum, and Brother Richards," she 
 answered. 
 
 I immediately arose upon learning that they had crossed the 
 river, and did not intend to go to Carthage. I called together a 
 number of persons in whom I had confidence, and had the type, 
 stereotype plates, and most of the valuable things removed from 
 the printing office, believing that, should the governor and his force 
 come to Nauvoo, the first thing they would do would be to burn the 
 printing office, for I knew they would be exasperated if Brother 
 Joseph went away. We had talked over these matters the night be- 
 fore, but nothing was decided upon. It was Brother Joseph's opinion 
 that, should we leave for a time, public excitement, which was then 
 so intense, would be allayed; that it would throw on the governor 
 the responsibility of keeping the peace; that in the event of an 
 outrage, the onus would rest upon the governor, who was amply 
 prepared with troops, and could command all the forces of the 
 State to preserve order ; and that the act of his own men would be 
 an overwhelming proof of their seditious designs, not only to the 
 governor, but to the world. He moreover thought that, in the east, 
 where he intended to go, public opinion would be set right in re- 
 lation to these matters, and its expression would partially influence 
 the west, and that, after the first ebullition, things would assume 
 a shape that would justify his return. 
 
 I made arrangements for crossing the river, and Brother Elias 
 Smith and Joseph Cain, who were both employed in the printing 
 office with me, assisted all that lay in their power together with 
 Brother Brower and several hands in the printing office. As we could 
 not find out the exact whereabouts of Joseph and the brethren, 
 I crossed the river in a boat furnished by Brother Cyrus H. Wheel- 
 ock and Alfred Bell ; and after the removal of the things out of the 
 printing office, Joseph Cain brought the account books to me, that 
 we might make arrangements for their adjustment; and Brother 
 Elias Smith, cousin to Brother Joseph, went to obtain money for 
 the journey, and also to find out and report to me the location of 
 the brethren. 
 
 As Cyrus H. Wheelock was an active, enterprising man, and in 
 the event of not finding Brother Joseph I calculated to go to Upper 
 Canada for the time being, and should need a companion, I said to 
 Brother Cyrus H. Wheelock, "Can you go with me ten or fifteen 
 hundred miles?" 
 
 He answered, "Yes." 
 
 "Can you start in half an hour?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 However, I told him that he had better see his family, who 
 lived over the river, and prepare a couple of horses and the nec- 
 essary equippage for the journey, and that, if we did not find 
 Brother Joseph before, we would start at nightfall. 
 
 A laughable incident occurred on the eve of my departure. 
 After making all the preparations I could, previous to leaving Nau- 
 voo, and having bid adieu to my family, I went to a house adjoin- 
 ing the river, owned by Brother Eddy. There I disguised myself so 
 
184 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 as not to be known, and so effectual was the transformation that 
 those who had come after me with a boat did not know me. I went 
 down to the boat and sat in it. Brother Bell, thinking it was a 
 stranger, watched my moves for some time very impatiently, and 
 then said to Brother Wheelock, "I wish that old gentleman would 
 go away; he has been pottering around the boat for some time, 
 and I am afraid Elder Taylor will be coming." When he discovered 
 his mistake, he was not a little amused. 
 
 I was conducted by Brother Bell to a house that was surround- 
 ed by timber on the opposite side of the river. There I spent several 
 hours in a chamber with Brother Joseph Cain, adjusting my 
 accounts ; and I made arrangements for the stereotype plates of the 
 Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants, to be forwarded east, 
 thinking to supply the company with subsistence money through 
 the sale of these books in the east. 
 
 My horses were reported ready by Brother Wheelock, and 
 funds on hand by Brother Elias Smith. In about half an hour I 
 should have started, when Brother Elias Smith came to me with 
 word that he had found the brethren; that they had concluded to 
 go to Carthage, and wished me to return to Nauvoo and accom- 
 pany them. I must confess that I felt a good deal disappointed 
 at this news, but I immediately made preparations to go. Escorted 
 by Brother Elias Smith, I and my party went to the neighborhood 
 of Montrose, where we met Brother Joseph, Hyrum, Brother Rich- 
 ards and others. Dr. Bernhisel thinks that W. W. Phelps was not 
 with Joseph and Hyrum in the morning, but that he met him, my- 
 self, Joseph and Hyrum, W. Richards and Brother Cahoon, in the 
 afternoon, near Montrose, returning to Nauvoo. 
 
 On meeting the brethren I learned that it was not Brother 
 Joseph's desire to return, but that he came back by request of some 
 of the brethren, and that it coincided more with Brother Hyrum's 
 feelings than those of Brother Joseph. In fact, after his return, 
 Brother Hyrum expressed himself as perfectly satisfied with the 
 course taken, and said he felt much more at ease in his mind than 
 he did before. On our return the calculation was to throw ourselves 
 under the immediate protection of the governor, and to trust to his 
 word and faith for our preservation. 
 
 A message was, I believe, sent to the governor that night, 
 stating that we should come to Carthage in the morning, the party 
 that came along with us to escort us back, in case we returned to 
 Carthage, having returned. 
 
 It would seem from the following remarks of General Ford 
 that there was a design on foot, which was, that if we refused to go 
 to Carthage at the governor's request, there should be an increased 
 force called for by the governor, and that we should be destroyed 
 by them. In accordance with this project, Captain Yates returned 
 with his posse, accompanied by the constable who held the writ. 
 
 The following is the governor's remark in relation to this 
 affair : 
 
 "The constable and his escort returned. The constable made 
 no effort to arrest any of them, nor would he or the guard delay 
 
THE MARTYRDOM 185 
 
 their departure one minute beyond the time, to see whether an 
 arrest could be made. Upon their return they reported that they 
 had been informed that the accused had fled, and could not be 
 found. I immediately proposed to a council of officers to march into 
 Nauvoo with the small force then under my command, but the 
 officers were of the opinion that it was too small, and many of them 
 insisted upon a further call of the militia. Upon reflection I was of 
 the opinion that the officers were right in the estimate of our 
 force, and the project for immediate action was abandoned. 
 
 "I was soon informed, however, of the conduct of the constable 
 and guard, and then I was perfectly satisfied that a most base fraud 
 had been attempted, that, in fact, it was feared that the Mormons 
 would submit, and thereby entitle themselves to the protection of 
 the law. It was very apparent that many of the bustling, active 
 spirits were afraid that there would be no occasion for calling out 
 an overwhelming militia force, for marching into Nauvoo, for 
 probable mutiny when there, and for the extermination of the 
 Mormon race. It appeared that the constable and the escort were 
 fully in the secret, and acted well their part to promote the con- 
 spiracy."* 
 
 In the morning Brother Joseph had an interview with the offi- 
 cers of the Legion, with the leading members of the city council, 
 and with the principal men of the city. The officers were instructed 
 to dismiss their men, but to have them in a state of readiness to be 
 called upon in any emergency that might occur. 
 
 About half past six o'clock the members of the city council, 
 the marshal, Brothers Joseph and Hyrum, and a number of others, 
 started for Carthage, on horseback. We were instructed by Brother 
 Joseph Smith not to take any arms, and we consequently left them 
 behind. We called at the house of Brother Fellows on our way out. 
 Brother Fellows lived about four miles from Carthage. 
 
 While at Brother Fellow's house, Captain Dunn, accompanied 
 by Mr. Coolie, one of the governor's aides-de-camp, came up from 
 Carthage en route for Nauvoo with a requisition from the governor 
 for the State arms. We all returned to Nauvoo with them ; the gov- 
 ernor's request was complied with, and after taking some refresh- 
 ments, we all returned to proceed to Carthage. We arrived there 
 late in the night. A great deal of excitement prevailed on and after 
 our arrival. The governor had received into his company all of the 
 companies that had been in the mob; these fellows were riotous 
 and disorderly, halloowing, yelling, and whooping about the streets 
 like Indians, many of them intoxicated ; the whole presented a scene 
 of rowdyism and low-bred ruffianism only found among mobocrats 
 and desperadoes, and entirely revolting to the best feelings of hu- 
 manity. The governor made a speech to them to the effect that he 
 would show Joseph and Hyrum Smith to them in the morning. 
 
 About here the companies with the governor were drawn up 
 in line, and General Demming, I think, took Joseph by the arm and 
 Hyrum (Arnold says that Joseph took the governor's arm), and 
 as he passed through between the ranks, the governor leading in 
 
 ♦Ford's History of Illinois, p. 333. 
 
186 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 front, very politely introduced them as General Joseph Smith and 
 General Hyrum Smith.* 
 
 All were orderly and courteous except one company of mobo- 
 crats — the Carthage Grays — who seemed to find fault on account 
 of too much honor being paid to the Mormons. There was after- 
 wards a row between the companies, and they came pretty near 
 having a fight ; the more orderly not feeling disposed to endorse or 
 submit to the rowdyism of the mobocrats. The result was that 
 General Demming, who was very much of a gentleman, ordered the 
 Carthage Grays, a company under the command of Captain Smith, 
 a magistrate in Carthage, and a most violent mobocrat, under 
 arrest. This matter, however, was shortly afterward adjusted, and 
 the difficulty settled between them. 
 
 The mayor, aldermen, councilors, as well as the marshal of 
 the city of Nauvoo, together with some persons who had assisted 
 the marshal in removing the press in Nauvoo, appeared before Jus- 
 tice Smith, the aforesaid captain and mobocrat, to again answer 
 the charge of destroying the press ; but as there was so much ex- 
 citement, and as the man was an unprincipled villain before whom 
 we were to have our hearing, we thought it most prudent to give 
 bail, and consequently became security for each other in $500 bonds 
 each, to appear before the County Court at its next session. We had 
 engaged as counsel a lawyer by the name of Wood, of Burlington, 
 
 *The Deseret Netvs gives the following account of Joseph and Hyrum 
 Smith's passing through the troops in Carthage: 
 
 "Carthage, June 25, 1844. 
 
 "Quarter past nine. The governor came and invited Joseph to walk with 
 him through the troops. Joseph solicited a few moments' private conversation 
 with him, which the governor refused. 
 
 "While refusing, the governor looked down at his shoes, as though he 
 was ashamed. They then walked through the crowd, with Brigadier General 
 Miner R. Demming, and Dr. Richards, to General Demming's quarters. The 
 people appeared quiet until a company of Carthage Grays flocked round the 
 doors of General Demming in an uproarious manner, of which notice was 
 sent to the governor. In the meantime the governor had ordered the McDon- 
 ough troops to be drawn up in line, for Joseph and Hyrum to pass in front of 
 them, they having requested that they might have a clear view of the General 
 Smiths. Joseph had a conversation with the governor for about ten minutes, 
 when he again pledged the faith of the State that he and his friends should be 
 protected from violence. 
 
 "Robinson, the postmaster, said, on report of martial law being proclaimed 
 in Nauvoo, he had stopped the mail, and notified the postmaster general of 
 the state of things in Hancock County. 
 
 "From the general's quarters Joseph and Hyrum went in front of the 
 lines, in a hollow square of a company of Carthage Grays. At seven minutes 
 before ten they arrived in front of the lines, and passed before the whole, 
 Joseph being on the right of General Demming and Hyrum on his left, Elders 
 Richards, Taylor and Phelps following. Joseph and Hyrum were introduced 
 by Governor Ford about twenty times along the line as General Joseph Smith 
 and General Hyrum Smith, the governor walking in front on the left. The 
 Carthage Grays refused to receive them by that introduction, and some of 
 the officers threw up their hats, drew their swords, and said they would intro- 
 duce themselves to the damned Mormons in a different style. The governor 
 mildly entreated them not to act so rudely, but their excitement increased; 
 the governor, however, succeeded in pacifying them by making a speech, and 
 promising them that they should have 'full satisfaction.' General Smith and 
 party returned to their lodgings at five minutes past ten." 
 
 Deseret News, No. 35, Nov. 4, 1857, p. 274. 
 
THE MARTYRDOM 187 
 
 Iowa; and Reed, I think, of Madison, Iowa. After some little dis- 
 cussion the bonds were signed, and we were all dismissed. 
 
 Almost immediately after our dismissal, two men — Augustine 
 Spencer and Norton — two worthless fellows, whose words would 
 not have been taken for five cents, and the first of whom had a short 
 time previously been before the mayor in Nauvoo for maltreating 
 a lame brother, made affidavits that Joseph and Hyrum Smith were 
 guilty of treason, and a writ was accordingly issued for their arrest, 
 and the constable Bettesworth, a rough, unprincipled man, wished 
 immediately to hurry them away to prison without any hearing. 
 His rude, uncouth manner in the administration of what he con- 
 sidered the duties of his office made him exceedingly repulsive to 
 us all. But, independent of these acts, the proceedings in this case 
 were altogether illegal. Providing the court was sincere, which it 
 was not, and providing these men's oaths were true, and that Jo- 
 seph and Hyrum were guilty of treason, still the whole course was 
 illegal. 
 
 The magistrate made out a mittimus, and committed them to 
 prison without a hearing, which he had no right legally to do. The 
 statute of Illinois expressly provides that "all men shall have a 
 hearing before a magistrate before they shall be committed to 
 prison ;" and Mr. Robert H. Smith, the magistrate, had made out 
 a mittimus committing them to prison contrary to law without such 
 hearing. As I was informed of this illegal proceeding, I went im- 
 mediately to the governor and informed him of it. Whether he was 
 apprised of it before or not, I do not know ; but my opinion is that 
 he was. 
 
 I represented to him the characters of the parties who had 
 made oath, the outrageous nature of the charge, the indignity 
 offered to men in the position which they occupied, and declared 
 to him that he knew very well it was a vexatious proceeding, and 
 that the accused were not guilty of any such crime. The governor 
 replied, he was very sorry that the thing had occurred ; that he did 
 not believe the charges, but that he thought the best thing to be 
 done was to let the law take its course. I then reminded him that 
 we had come out there at his instance, not to satisfy the law, which 
 we had done before, but the prejudices of the people, in relation 
 to the affairs of the press ; that at his instance we had given bonds, 
 which we could not by law be required to do to satisfy the people, 
 and that it was asking too much to require gentlemen in their po- 
 sition in life to suffer the degradation of being immured in a jail 
 at the instance of such worthless scoundrels as those who had made 
 this affidavit. The governor replied that it was an unpleasant affair, 
 and looked hard; but that it was a matter over which he had no 
 control, as it belonged to the judiciary; that he, as the executive, 
 could not interfere with their proceedings, and that he had no 
 doubt but that they would immediately be dismissed. I told him 
 that we had looked to him for protection from such insults, and 
 that I thought we had a right to do so from the solemn promises 
 which he had made to me and to Dr. Bernhisel in relation to our 
 coming without guard or arms ; that we had relied upon his faith, 
 and had a right to expect him to fulfill his engagements after we 
 
188 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 had placed ourselves implicitly under his care, and complied with all 
 his requests, although extrajudicial. 
 
 He replied that he would detail a guard, if we required it, and 
 see us protected, but that he could not interfere with the judiciary. 
 I expressed my dissatisfaction at the course taken, and told him, 
 that, if we were to be subject to mob rule, and to be dragged, con- 
 trary to law, into prison at the instance of every infernal scoundrel 
 whose oaths could be bought for a dram of whiskey, his protection 
 availed very little, and we had miscalculated his promises. 
 
 Seeing there was no prospect of redress from the governor, I 
 returned to the room, and found the constable Bettesworth very 
 urgent to hurry Brothers Joseph and Hyrum to prison, while the 
 brethren were remonstrating with him. At the same time a great 
 rabble was gathered in the streets and around the door, and from 
 the rowdyism manifested I was afraid there was a design to murder 
 the prisoners on the way to jail. 
 
 Without conferring with any person, my next feelings were 
 to procure a guard, and seeing a man habited as a soldier in the 
 room, I went to him and said, ''I am afraid there is a design against 
 the lives of the Messrs. Smith ; will you go immediately and bring 
 your captain; and, if not convenient, any other captain of a com- 
 pany, and I will pay you well for your trouble ?" He said he would, 
 and departed forthwith, and soon returned with his captain, whose 
 name I have forgotten, and introduced him to me. I told of my fears, 
 and requested him immediately to fetch his company. 
 
 He departed forthwith, and arrived at the door with them 
 just at the time when the constable was hurrying the brethren 
 down stairs. A number of the brethren went along, together with 
 one or two strangers ; and all of us, safely lodged in prison, remained 
 there during the night. 
 
 At the request of Joseph Smith for an interview with the gov- 
 ernor, he came the next morning, Thursday, June 26th, at half past 
 9 o'clock, accompanied by Colonel Geddes, when a lengthy conver- 
 sation was entered into in relation to the existing difficulties ; and 
 after some preliminary remarks, at the governor's request, Brother 
 Joseph gave him a general outline of the state of affairs in relation 
 to our difficulties, the excited state of the country, the tumultuous 
 mobocratic movements of our enemies, the precautionary measures 
 used by himself (Joseph Smith), the acts of the city council, the 
 destruction of the press, and the moves of the mob and ourselves 
 up to that time. 
 
 The following report is, I believe, substantially correct : 
 
 Governor — "General Smith, I believe you have given me a 
 general outline of the difficulties that have existed in the country 
 in the documents forwarded to me by Dr. Bernhisel and Mr. Taylor ; 
 but, unfortunately, there seems to be a great discrepancy between 
 your statements and those of your enemies. It is true that you 
 are substantiated by evidence and affidavit, but for such an extra- 
 ordinary excitement as that which is now in the country there 
 must be some cause, and I attribute the last outbreak to the destruc- 
 tion of the Expositor, and to your refusal to comply with the writ 
 
THE MARTYRDOM 189 
 
 issued by Esquire Morrison. The press in the United States is 
 looked upon as the great bulwark of American freedom, and its 
 destruction in Nauvoo was represented and looked upon as a high- 
 handed measure, and manifests to the people a disposition on your 
 part to suppress the liberty of speech and of the press. This, with 
 your refusal to comply with the requisition of a writ, I conceive to 
 be the principal cause of this difficulty ; and you are moreover rep- 
 resented to me as turbulent, and defiant of the laws and institu^- 
 tions of your country." 
 
 General Smith — "Governor Ford, you, sir, as governor of this 
 State, are aware of the persecutions that I have endured. You 
 know well that our course has been peaceable and law-abiding for 
 I have furnished this State ever since our settlement here with 
 sufficient evidence of my pacific intentions, and those of the people 
 with whom I am associated, by the endurance of every conceivable 
 indignity and lawless outrage perpetrated upon me and upon this 
 people since our settlement here; and you know yourself that I 
 have kept you well posted in relation to all matters associated 
 with the late difficulties. If you have not got some of my communi- 
 cations, it has not been my fault. 
 
 "Agreeable to your orders, I assembled the Nauvoo Legion for 
 the protection of Nauvoo and the surrounding country against an 
 armed band of marauders ; and ever since they have been mustered 
 I have almost daily communicated with you in regard to all the 
 leading events that have transpired; and whether in the capacity 
 of mayor of the city, or lieutenant general of the Nauvoo Legion, 
 I have striven, according to the best of my judgment, to preserve 
 the peace and to administer even-handed justice; but my motives 
 are impugned, my acts are misconstrued, and I am grossly and 
 wickedly misrepresented. I suppose I am indebted for my incarcer- 
 ation to the oath of a worthless man, who was arraigned before 
 me and fined for abusing and maltreating his lame, helpless brother. 
 That I should be charged by you sir, who know better, of acting 
 contrary to law, is to me a matter of surprise. Was it the Mormons 
 or our enemies who first commenced these difficulties? You know 
 well it was not us ; and when this turbulent, outrageous people com- 
 menced their insurrectionary movements I made you acquainted 
 with them officially, and asked your advice, and have followed 
 strictly your counsel in every particular. Who ordered out the Nau- 
 voo Legion? I did, under your direction. For what purpose? To 
 suppress the insurrectionary movements. It was at your instance, 
 sir, that I issued a proclamation calling upon the Nauvoo Legion 
 to be in readiness at a moment's warning to guard against the in- 
 cursions of mobs, and gave an order to Jonathan Dunham, acting 
 major-general, to that effect. 
 
 "Am I, then, to be charged wtih the acts of others? and be- 
 cause lawlessness and mobocracy abound, am I, when carrying out 
 your instructions, to be charged with not abiding law? Why is it 
 that I must be made accountable for other men's acts ? If there is 
 trouble in the country, neither I nor my people made it; and all 
 that we have ever done, after much endurance on our part, is to 
 maintain and uphold the Constitution and institutions of our coun- 
 
190 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 try, and to protect an injured, innocent, and persecuted people 
 against misrule and mob violence. 
 
 "Concerning the destruction of the press to which you refer, 
 men may differ somewhat in their opinions about it ; but can it be 
 supposed that after all the indignities to which they have been sub- 
 jected outside, that people could suffer a set of worthless vagabonds 
 to come into their city, and, right under their own eyes and pro- 
 tection, vilify and calumniate not only themselves, but the charac- 
 ter of their wives and daughters, as was impudently and unblush- 
 ingly done in that infamous and filthy sheet? 
 
 "There is not a city in the United States that would have suf- 
 fered such an indignity for twenty-four hours. Our whole people 
 were indignant, and loudly called upon our city authorities for a 
 redress of their grievances, which, if not attended to, they them- 
 selves would have taken into their own hands, and have summarily 
 punished the audacious wretches as they deserved. The principle of 
 equal rights that has been instilled into our bosoms from our cradles 
 as American citizens forbids us submitting to every foul indignity, 
 and succumbing and pandering to wretches so infamous as these. 
 But, independent of this, the course that we pursued we consider 
 to be strictly legal ; for, notwithstanding the result, we were anxious 
 to be governed strictly by law, and therefore we convened the city 
 council; and being desirous in our deliberations to abide by law, 
 we summoned legal counsel to be present on the occasion. Upon in- 
 vestigating the matter, we found that our city charter gave us 
 power to remove all nuisances. Furthermore, after consulting Black- 
 stone upon what might be considered a nuisance, it appeared that 
 that distinguished lawyer, who is considered authority, I believe, 
 in all our courts, states among other things that 'a libelous and 
 filthy press, may be considered a nuisance; and abated as such/ 
 Here, then, one of the most eminent English barristers, whose 
 works are considered standard with us, declares that a libelous and 
 filthy press may be considered a nuisance; and our own charter, 
 given us by the Legislature of this State, gives us power to remove 
 nuisances ; and by ordering that press to be abated as a nuisance, 
 we conceived that we were acting strictly in accordance with law. 
 We made that order in our corporate capacity, and the city mar- 
 shal carried it out. It is possible there may have been some better 
 way, but I must confess that I could not see it. 
 
 "In relation to the writ served upon us, we are willing to abide 
 the consequences of our own acts, but are unwilling, in answering 
 a writ of that kind, to submit to illegal exactions, sought to be 
 imposed upon us under the pretense of law, when we knew they 
 were in open violation of it. When that document was presented to 
 me by Mr. Bettesworth, I offered, in the presence of more than 
 twenty persons, to go to any other magistrate, either in our city, in 
 Appanoose, or any other place where we should be safe, but we 
 all refused to put ourselves into the power of a mob. What right 
 had that constable to refuse our request? He had none according 
 to law; for you know, Governor Ford, that the statute law in 
 Illinois is, that the parties served with the writ 'shall go before 
 him who issued it, or some other justice of the peace. , Why, then, 
 
THE MARTYRDOM 191 
 
 should we be dragged to Carthage, where the law does not compel 
 us to go ? Does not this look like many others of our persecutions 
 with which you are acquainted ? and have we not a right to expect 
 foul play? This very act was a breach of law on his part, an as- 
 sumption of power that did not belong to him, and an attempt, at 
 least, to deprive us of our legal and constitutional rights and priv- 
 ileges. What could we do, under the circumstances, different from 
 what we did do? We sued for, and obtained a writ of habeas corpus 
 from the municipal court, by which we were delivered from the 
 hands of Constable Bettesworth, and brought before and acquitted 
 by the municipal court. After our acquittal, in a conversation with 
 Judge Thomas, although he considered the acts of the party illegal, 
 he advised that, to satisfy the people, we had better go before an- 
 other magistrate who was not in our Church. In accordance with 
 his advice, we went before Esquire Wells, with whom you are well 
 acquainted; both parties were present, witnesses were called on 
 both sides, the case was fully investigated, and we were again dis- 
 missed. And what is this pretended desire to enforce law, and 
 wherefore are these lying, base rumors put into circulation but 
 to seek, through mob influence, under pretense of law, to make 
 us submit to requisitions which are contrary to law and subversive 
 of every principle of justice? And when you, sir, required us to 
 come out here, we came, not because it was legal, but because you 
 required it of us, and we were desirous of showing to you, and to 
 all men, that we shrunk not from the most rigid investigation of 
 our acts. We certainly did expect other treatment than to be im- 
 mured in a jail at the instance of these men, and I think, from your 
 plighted faith, we had a right so to expect, after disbanding our 
 own forces, and putting ourselves entirely in your hands. And 
 now, after having fulfilled my part, sir, as a man and an American 
 citizen, I call upon you, Governor Ford, to deliver us from this 
 place, and rescue us from this outrage that is sought to be practiced 
 upon us by a set of infamous scoundrels. ,, 
 
 Governor Ford. — "But you have placed men under arrest, de- 
 tained men as prisoners, and given passes to others, some of which 
 I have seen." 
 
 John P. Greene, City Marshal. — "Perhaps I can explain. Since 
 these difficulties have commenced, you are aware that we have been 
 placed under very peculiar circumstances ; our city has been placed 
 under a very rigid police guard ; in addition to this, frequent guards 
 have been placed outside the city to prevent any sudden surprise, 
 and those guards have questioned suspected or suspicious persons 
 as to their business. To strangers, in some instances, passes have 
 been given to prevent difficulty in passing those guards; it is 
 some of these passes that you have seen. No person, sir, has been 
 imprisoned without a legal cause in our city." 
 
 Governor. — "Why did you not give a more speedy answer to 
 the posse that I sent out?" 
 
 General Smith. — We had matters of importance to consult 
 upon; your letter showed anything but an amiable spirit. We have 
 suffered immensely in Missouri from mobs, in loss of property, im- 
 
192 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 prisonment, and otherwise. It took some time for us to weigh duly 
 these matters; we could not decide upon matters of such impor- 
 tance immediately, and your posse were too hasty in returning; 
 we were consulting for a large people, and vast interests were at 
 stake. We had been outrageously imposed upon, and knew not how 
 far we could trust any one; besides, a question necessarily arose, 
 How shall we come? Your request was that we should come un- 
 armed. It became a matter of serious importance to decide how far 
 promises could be trusted, and how far we were safe from mob 
 violence." 
 
 Colonel Geddes. — "It certainly did look, from all I have heard, 
 from the general spirit of violence and mobocracy that here pre- 
 vails, that it was not safe for you to come unprotected." 
 
 Governor Ford. — "I think that sufficient time was not allowed 
 by the posse for you to consult and get ready. They were too hasty ; 
 but I suppose they found themselves bound by their orders. I think, 
 too, there is a great deal of truth in what you say, and your reason- 
 ing is plausible, but I must beg leave to differ from you in relation 
 to the acts of the City Council. That Council, in my opinion, had no 
 right to act in a legislative capacity, and in that of the judiciary. 
 They should have passed a law in relation to the matter, and then 
 the Municipal Court, upon complaint, could have removed it; but 
 for the City Council to take upon themselves the law-making and 
 the execution of the law, is, in my opinion, wrong; besides, these 
 men ought to have had a hearing before their property was de- 
 stroyed ; to destroy it without was an infringement on their rights ; 
 besides, it is so contrary to the feelings of American people to 
 interfere with the press. And, furthermore, I cannot but think that 
 it would have been more judicious for you to have gone with Mr. 
 Bettesworth to Carthage, notwithstanding the law did not require 
 it. Concerning your being in jail, I am sorry for that; I wish it had 
 been otherwise. I hope you will soon be released, but I can not 
 interfere." 
 
 Joseph Smith. — "Governor Ford, allow me, sir, to bring one 
 thing to your mind that you seem to have overlooked. You state 
 that you think it would have been better for us to have submitted 
 to the requisition of Constable Bettesworth, and to have gone to 
 Carthage. Do you not know, sir, that that writ was served at the 
 instance of an anti-Mormon mob, who had passed resolutions, and 
 published them, to the effect that they would exterminate the Mor- 
 mon leaders ? And are you not informed that Captain Anderson was 
 not only threatened but had a gun fired at his boat by this said 
 mob in Warsaw when coming up to Nauvoo, and that this very 
 thing was made use of as a means to get us into their hands ; and 
 we could not, without taking an armed force with us, go there 
 without, according to their published declarations, going into the 
 jaws of death? To have taken a force with us would only have 
 fanned the excitement, and they would have stated that we wanted 
 to use intimidation; therefore, we thought it the most judicious 
 to avail ourselves of the protection of the law." 
 
 Governor Ford. — "I see, I see." 
 
THE MARTYRDOM 193 
 
 Joseph Smith. — "Furthermore, in relation to the press, you 
 say that you differ from me in opinion. Be it so ; the thing, after all, 
 is only a legal difficulty, and the courts, I should judge, are compe- 
 tent to decide on that matter. If our act was illegal, we are willing 
 to meet it ; and although I cannot see the distinction that you draw 
 about the acts of the City Council, and what difference it could 
 have made in point of fact, law, or justice between the City Coun- 
 cil's acting together or separate, or how much more legal it would 
 have been for the Municipal Court, who were a part of the City 
 Council, to act separately instead of with the councilors, yet, if it 
 is deemed that we did a wrong in destroying that press, we refuse 
 not to pay for it ; we are desirous to fulfill the law in every particu- 
 lar, and are responsible for our acts. You say that the parties ought 
 to have a hearing. Had it been a civil suit, this of course, would 
 have been proper ; but there was a flagrant violation of every prin- 
 ciple of right — a nuisance; and it was abated on the same prin- 
 ciple that any nuisance, stench, or putrefied carcass would have 
 been removed. Our first step, therefore, was to stop the foul, noi- 
 some, filthy sheet, and then the next in our opinion would have 
 been to have prosecuted the man for a breach of public decency. 
 And, furthermore, again let me say, Governor Ford, I shall look 
 to you for our protection. I believe you are talking of going to Nau- 
 voo; if you go, sir, I wish to go along. I refuse not to answer any 
 law, but I do not consider myself safe here." 
 
 Governor. — "I am in hopes that you will be acquitted, and if I 
 go I will certainly take you along. I do not, however, apprehend 
 danger. I think you are perfectly safe either here or anywhere else. 
 I can not, however, interfere with the law. I am placed in peculiar 
 circumstances and seem to be blamed by all parties." 
 
 Joseph Smith. — "Governor Ford, I ask for nothing but what is 
 legal ; I have a right to expect protection, at least from you ; for, in- 
 dependent of law, you have pledged your faith and that of the 
 State for my protection, and I wish to go to Nauvoo." 
 
 Governor. — "And you shall have protection, General Smith. I 
 did not make this promise without consulting my officers, who all 
 pledged their honor to its fulfillment. I do not know that I shall go 
 tomorrow to Nauvoo, but if I do I will take you along." 
 
 At a quarter past ten o'clock the governor left. 
 
 At about half past twelve o'clock, Mr. Reed, one of Joseph's 
 counsel, came in, apparently much elated; he stated that, upon an 
 examination of the law, he found that the magistrate had tran- 
 scended his jurisdiction, and that having committed them without 
 an examination, his jurisdiction ended, that he had him upon a pin- 
 hook; that he ought to have examined them before he committed 
 them, and that, having violated the law in this particular, he had 
 no further power over them; for, once committed, they were out 
 of his jurisdiction, as the power of the magistrate extended no 
 farther than their committal, and that now they could not be 
 brought out except at the regular session of the Circuit Court, 
 or by a writ of habeas corpus; but that if Justice Smith would con- 
 
194 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 sent to go to Nauvoo for trial, he would compromise matters with 
 him, and overlook this matter. 
 
 Mr. Reed further stated that the anti-Mormon or mob, had 
 concocted a scheme to get out a writ from Missouri, with a demand 
 upon Governor Ford for the arrest of Joseph Smith, and his con- 
 veyance to Missouri, and that a man by the name of Wilson had 
 returned from Missouri the night before the burning of the press 
 for this purpose. 
 
 At half past two o'clock Constable Bettesworth came to the jail 
 with a man named Simpson, professing to have some order, but he 
 would not send up his name, and the guard would not let him pass. 
 Dr. Bernhisel and Brother Wasson went to inform the governor 
 and council of this. At about twenty minutes to three Dr. Bernhisel 
 returned, and stated that he thought the governor was doing all he 
 could. At about ten minutes to three Hiram Kimball appeared 
 with news from Nauvoo. 
 
 Soon after Constable Bettesworth came with an order from 
 Esquire Smith to convey the prisoners to the court-house for trial. 
 He was informed that the process was illegal, that they had been 
 placed there contrary to law, and that they refused to come unless 
 by legal process. I was informed that Justice Smith (who was also 
 captain of the Carthage Grays) went to the governor and informed 
 him of the matter, and that the governor replied, "You have your 
 forces, and of course can use them." The constable certainly did 
 return, accompanied by a guard of armed men, and by force, and 
 under protest, hurried the prisoners to the court. 
 
 About four o'clock the case was called by Captain Robert F. 
 Smith, J. P. The counsel for the prisoners called for subpoenas to 
 bring witnesses. At twenty-five minutes past four he took a copy 
 of the order to bring the prisoners from jail to trial, and after- 
 wards he took names of witnesses. 
 
 Counsel present for the State: Higbee, Skinner, Sharp, Em- 
 mons, and Morrison. Twenty-five minutes to five the writ was 
 returned as served, June 25th. 
 
 Many remarks were made at the court that I paid but little 
 attention to, as I considered the whole thing illegal and a complete 
 burlesque. Wood objected to the proceedings in toto, in consequence 
 of its illegality, showing that the prisoners were not only illegally 
 committed, but that, being once committed, the magistrate had no 
 further power over them ; but as it was the same magistrate before 
 whom he was pleading who imprisoned them contrary to law, and 
 the same who, as captain, forced them from jail, his arguments 
 availed but little. He then urged that the prisoners be remanded 
 until witnesses could be had, and applied for a continuance for that 
 purpose. Skinner suggested until twelve o'clock next day. Wood 
 again demanded until witnesses could be obtained; that the court 
 meet at a specified time, and that, if, witnesses were not present, 
 again adjourn, without calling the prisoners. After various remarks 
 from Reed r Skinner, and others, the court stated that the writ was 
 served yesterday, and that it will give until tomorrow at twelve m. 
 to get witnesses. 
 
 We then returned to jail. Immediately after our return Dr. 
 
THE MARTYRDOM 
 
 195 
 
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196 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 Bernhisel went to the governor, and obtained from him an order 
 for us to occupy a large open room containing a bedstead. I rather 
 think that the same room had been appropriated to the use of 
 debtors ; at any rate, there was free access to the jailer's house, and 
 no bars or locks except such as might be on the outside door of the 
 jail. The jailer, Mr. George W. Steghall, and his wife, manifested a 
 disposition to make us as comfortable as they could ; we ate at their 
 table, which was well provided, and, of course, paid for it. 
 
 I do not remember the names of all who were with us that night 
 and the next morning in jail, for several went and came; among 
 those that we considered stationary were Stephen Markham, John 
 S. Fullmer, Captain Dan Jones, Dr. Willard Richards, and myself. 
 Dr. Bernhisel says that he was there from Wednesday in the after- 
 noon until eleven o'clock next day. We were, however, visited by 
 numerous friends, among whom were Uncle John Smith, Hiram 
 Kimball, Cyrus H. Wheelock, besides lawyers, as counsel. There 
 was also a great variety of conversation, which was rather desultory 
 than otherwise, and referred to circumstances that had transpired, 
 our former and present grievances, the spirit of the troops around 
 us, and the disposition of the governor ; the devising for legal and 
 other plans for deliverance, the nature of testimony required ; the 
 gathering of proper witnesses, and a variety of other topics, includ- 
 ing our religious hopes, etc. 
 
 During one of these conversations Dr. Richards remarked : 
 "Brother Joseph, if it is necessary that you die in this matter, and 
 if they will take me in your stead, I will suffer for you." At 
 another time, when conversing about deliverance, I said, "Brother 
 Joseph, if you will permit it, and say the word, I will have you out 
 of this prison in five hours, if the jail has to come down to do it." 
 My idea was to go to Nauvoo, and collect a force sufficient, as I 
 considered the whole affair a legal farce, and a flagrant outrage 
 upon our liberty and rights. Brother Joseph refused. 
 
 Elder Cyrus H. Wheelock came in to see us, and when he was 
 about leaving drew a small pistol, a six-shooter, from his pocket, 
 remarking at the same time, "Would any of you like to have this?" 
 Brother Joseph immediately replied, "Yes, give it to me;" where- 
 upon he took the pistol, and put it in his pantaloons pocket. The 
 pistol was a six-shooting revolver, of Allen's patent ; it belonged to 
 me, and was one that I furnished to Brother Wheelock when he 
 talked of going with me to the east, previous to our coming to 
 Carthage. I have it now in my possession. Brother Wheelock went 
 out on some errand, and was not suffered to return. The report of 
 the governor having gone to Nauvoo without taking the prisoners 
 along with him caused very unpleasant feelings, as we were ap- 
 prised that we were left to the tender mercies of the Carthage 
 Grays, a company strictly mobocratic, and whom we knew to be our 
 most deadly enemies ; and their captain, Esquire Smith, was a most 
 unprincipled villain. Besides this, all the mob forces, comprising 
 the governor's troops, were dismissed, with the exception of one 
 or two companies, which the governor took with him to Nauvoo. 
 The great part of the mob was liberated, the remainder was our 
 guard. 
 
THE MARTYRDOM 197 
 
 We looked upon it not only as a breach of faith on the part of 
 the governor, but also as an indication of a desire to insult us, if 
 nothing more, by leaving us in the proximity of such men. The 
 prevention of Wheelock's return was among the first of their 
 hostile movements. 
 
 Colonel Markham then went out, and he was also prevented 
 from returning. He was very angry at this, but the mob paid no 
 attention to him; they drove him out of town at the point of the 
 bayonet, and threatened to shoot him if he returned. He went, I am 
 informed, to Nauvoo for the purpose of raising a company of men 
 for our protection. Brother Fullmer went to Nauvoo after wit- 
 nesses; it is my opinion that Brother Wheelock did also. 
 
 Some time after dinner we sent for some wine. It has been 
 reported by some that this was taken as a sacrament. It was no 
 such thing; our spirits were generally dull and heavy, and it was 
 sent for to revive us. I think it was Captain Jones who went after it, 
 but they would not suffer him to return. I believe we all drank of 
 the wine, and gave some to one or two of the prison guards. We 
 all of us felt unusually dull and languid, with a remarkable depres- 
 sion of spirits. In consonance with those feelings I sang a song, 
 that had lately been introduced into Nauvoo, entitled, "A poor, 
 wayfaring man of grief/' etc. 
 
 THE POOR WAYFARING MAN OF GRIEF 
 
 A poor wayfaring man of grief 
 Had often crossed me on my way, 
 Who sued so humbly for relief 
 That I could never answer, Nay. 
 
 I had not power to ask his name; 
 Whither he went or whence he came; 
 Yet there was something in his eye 
 That won my love, I knew not why. 
 
 Once, when my scanty meal was spread, 
 He entered — not a word he spake! 
 Just perishing for want of bread; 
 I gave him all; he blessed it, brake. 
 
 And ate, but gave me part again; 
 Mine was an angel's portion then, 
 For while I fed with eager haste, 
 The crust was manna to my taste. 
 
 I spied him where a fountain burst, 
 Clear from the rock — his strength was gone, 
 The heedless water mock'd his thirst, 
 He heard it, saw it hurrying on. 
 
 I ran and raised the suff'rer up; 
 Thrice from the stream he drain'd my cup, 
 Dipp'd, and returned it running o'er; 
 I drank and never thirsted more. 
 
 'Twas night, the floods were out, it blew 
 A winter hurricane aloof; 
 I heard his voice, abroad, and flew 
 To bid him welcome to my roof. 
 
198 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 I warmed, I clothed, I cheered my guest, 
 I laid him on my couch to rest; 
 Then made the earth my bed, and seem'd 
 In Eden's garden while I dream'd. 
 
 Stripp'd, wounded, beaten nigh to death, 
 I found him by the highway side; 
 I rous'd his pulse, brought back his breath, 
 Revived his spirit, and supplied 
 
 Wine, oil, refreshment — he was heal'd; 
 I had myself a wound conceal'd; 
 But from that hour forgot the smart. 
 And peace bound up my broken heart. 
 
 In pris'n I saw him next — condemned 
 To meet a traitor's doom at morn; 
 The tide of lying tongues I stemmed, 
 And honored him 'mid shame and scorn. 
 
 My friendship's utmost zeal to try, 
 He asked, if I for him would die; 
 The flesh was weak, my blood ran chill, 
 But the free spirit cried, "I will!" 
 
 Then in a moment to my view, 
 The stranger started from disguise: 
 The tokens in his hands I knew, 
 The Savior stood before mine eyes. 
 
 He spake — and my poor name he named — 
 "Of me thou hast not been asham'd; 
 These deeds shall thy memorial be; 
 Fear not thou didst them unto me." 
 
 The song is pathetic, and the tune quite plaintive, and was 
 very much in accordance with our feelings at the time, for our 
 spirits were all depressed, dull and gloomy, and surcharged with 
 indefinite ominous forebodings. After a lapse of some time, Brother 
 Hyrum requested me again to sing that song. I replied, "Brother 
 Hyrum, I do not feel like singing," when he remarked, "Oh, never 
 mind ; commence singing, and you will get the spirit of it." At his 
 request I did so. Soon afterwards I was sitting at one of the front 
 windows of the jail, when I saw a number of men, with painted 
 faces, coming around the corner of the jail, and aiming towards the 
 stairs. The other brethren had seen the same, for, as I went to the 
 door, I found Brother Hyrum Smith and Dr. Richards already 
 leaning against it. They both pressed against the door with their 
 shoulders to prevent its being opened, as the lock and latch were 
 comparatively useless. While in this position, the mob, who had 
 come up stairs, and tried to open the door, probably thought it was 
 locked, and fired a ball through the keyhole; at this Dr. Richards 
 and Brother Hyrum leaped back from the door, with their faces 
 towards it ; almost instantly another ball passed through the panel 
 of the door, and struck Brother Hyrum on the left side of the nose, 
 entering his face and head. At the same instant, another ball from 
 the outside entered his back, passing through his body and striking 
 his watch. The ball came from the back, through the jail window, 
 opposite the door, and must, from its range, have been fired from 
 
THE MARTYRDOM 199 
 
 the Carthage Grays, who were placed there ostensibly for our pro- 
 tection, as the balls from the fire-arms, shot close by the jail, would 
 have entered the ceiling, we being in the second story, and there 
 never was a time after that when Hyrum could have received the 
 latter wound. Immediately, when the balls struck him, he fell flat 
 on his back, crying as he fell, "I am a dead man." He never moved 
 afterwards. 
 
 I shall never forget the deep feeling of sympathy and regard 
 manifested in the countenance of Brother Joseph as he drew nigh 
 to Hyrum, and, leaning over him, exclaimed, "Oh! my poor, dear 
 brother Hyrum !" He, however, instantly arose, and with a firm, 
 quick step, and a determined expression of countenance, approached 
 the door, and pulling the six-shooter left by Brother Wheelock from 
 his pocket, opened the door slightly, and snapped the pistol six 
 successive times; only three of the barrels, however, were dis- 
 charged. I afterwards understood that two or three were wounded 
 by these discharges, two of whom, I am informed, died. I had in 
 my hands a large, strong hickory stick, brought there by Brother 
 Markham, and left by him, which I had seized as soon as I saw the 
 mob approach; and while Brother Joseph was firing the pistol, I 
 stood close behind him. As soon as he had discharged it he stepped 
 back, and I immediately took his place next to the door, while he 
 occupied the one I had done while he was shooting. Brother Rich- 
 ards, at this time, had a knotty walking-stick in his hands belonging 
 to me, and stood next to Brother Joseph, a little farther from the 
 door, in an oblique direction, apparently to avoid the rake of the fire 
 from the door. The firing of Brother Joseph made our assailants 
 pause for a moment ; very soon after, however, they pushed the door 
 some distance open, and protruded and discharged their guns into 
 the room, when I parried them off with my stick, giving another 
 direction to the balls. 
 
 It certainly was a terrible scene : streams of fire as thick as my 
 arm passed by me as these men fired, and, unarmed as we were, it 
 looked like certain death. I remember feeling as though my time 
 had come, but I do not know when, in any critical position, I was 
 more calm, unruffled, energetic, and acted with more promptness 
 and decision. It certainly was far from pleasant to be so near the 
 muzzles of those fire-arms as they belched forth their liquid flames 
 and deadly balls. While I was engaged in parrying the guns, 
 Brother Joseph said, "That's right, Brother Taylor, parry them off 
 as well as you can." These were the last words I ever heard him 
 speak on earth. 
 
 Every moment the crowd at the door became more dense, as 
 they were unquestionably pressed on by those in the rear ascending 
 the stairs, until the whole entrance at the door was literally crowded 
 with muskets and rifles, which, with the swearing, shouting and 
 demoniacal expressions of those outside the door and on the stairs, 
 and the firing of the guns, mingled with their horrid oaths and 
 execrations, made it look like pandemonium let loose, and was, 
 indeed, a fit representation of the horrid deed in which they were 
 engaged. 
 
200 
 
 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 I 
 
 
 ,1 
 
 Stairway in Carthage Jail leading to the room to the right of the 
 landing where Hyrum Smith was killed and where Joseph and Hyrum 
 Smith, John Taylor, and Willard Richards were at the time of the martyr- 
 dom. 
 
THE MARTYRDOM 
 
 201 
 
 
 The landing showing the hole in the door made by the ball that 
 killed Hyrum Smith. 
 
202 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 After parrying the guns for some time, which now protruded 
 thicker and farther into the room, and seeing no hope of escape or 
 protection there, as we were now unarmed, it occurred to me that 
 we might have some friends outside, and that there might be some 
 chance of escape in that direction, but here there seemed to be 
 none. As I expected them every moment to rush into the room — 
 nothing but extreme cowardice having thus far kept them out — as 
 the tumult and pressure increased, without any other hope, I made 
 a spring for the window which was right in front of the jail door, 
 where the mob was standing, and also exposed to the fire of the 
 Carthage Grays, who were stationed some ten or twelve rods off. 
 The weather was hot, we all of us had our coats off, and the window 
 was raised to admit air. As I reached the window, and was on the 
 point of leaping out, I was struck by a ball from the door about 
 midway of my thigh, which struck the bone, and flattened out 
 almost to the size of a quarter of a dollar, and then passed on 
 through the fleshy part to within about half an inch of the outside. 
 I think some prominent nerve must have been severed or injured, 
 for, as soon as the ball struck me, I fell like a bird when shot, or 
 an ox when struck by a butcher, and lost entirely and instantan- 
 eously all power of action or locomotion. I fell upon the window- 
 sill, and cried out, "I am shot!" Not possessing any power to move, 
 I felt myself falling outside of the window, but immediately I fell 
 inside, from some, at that time, unknown cause. When I struck the 
 floor my animation seemed restored, as I have seen it sometimes 
 in squirrels and birds after being shot. As soon as I felt the power 
 of motion I crawled under the bed which was in a corner of the 
 room, not far from the window where I received my wound. While 
 on my way and under the bed I was wounded in three other places ; 
 one ball entered a little below the left knee, and never was extracted ; 
 another entered the forepart of my left arm, a little above the 
 wrist, and, passing down by the joint, lodged in the fleshy part 
 of my hand, about midway, a little above the upper joint of my 
 little finger ; another struck me on the fleshy part of my left hip, and 
 tore away the flesh as large as my hand, dashing the mangled frag- 
 ments of flesh and blood against the wall. 
 
 My wounds were painful, and the sensation produced was as 
 though a ball had passed through and down the whole length of 
 my leg. I very well remember my reflections at the time. I had a 
 very painful idea of becoming lame and decrepid, and being an 
 object of pity, and I felt as though I would rather die than be 
 placed in such circumstances. 
 
 It would seem that immediately after my attempt to leap out 
 of the window, Joseph also did the same thing, of which circum- 
 stance I have no knowledge only from information. The first thing 
 that I noticed was a cry that he had leaped out of the window. A 
 cessation of firing followed, the mob rushed down stairs, and Dr. 
 Richards went to the window. Immediately afterwards I saw the 
 doctor going towards the jail door, and as there was an iron door 
 at the head of the stairs adjoining our door which led into the cells 
 for criminals, it struck me that the doctor was going in there, and 
 
THE MARTYRDOM 203 
 
 I said to him, "Stop, doctor, and take me along." He proceeded to 
 the door and opened it, and then returned and dragged me along 
 to a small cell prepared for criminals. 
 
 Brother Richards was very much troubled, and exclaimed, 
 "Oh! Brother Taylor, is it possible that they have killed both 
 Brother Hyrum and Joseph ? it cannot surely be, and yet I saw them 
 shoot them;" and, elevating his hands two or three times, he 
 exclaimed, "Oh Lord, my God, spare thy servants!" He then said, 
 "Brother Taylor, this is a terrible event;" and he dragged me 
 farther into the cell, saying, "I am sorry I can do no better for 
 you;" and, taking an old filthy mattress, he covered me with it, 
 and said, "That may hide you, and you may yet live to tell the tale, 
 but I expect they will kill me in a few moments." While lying in 
 this position I suffered the most excruciating pain. 
 
 Soon afterwards Dr. Richards came to me, informed me that 
 the mob had precipitately fled, and at the same time confirmed my 
 worst fears that Joseph was assuredly dead. I felt a dull, lonely, 
 sickening sensation at the news. When I reflected that our noble 
 chieftain, the prophet of the living God, had fallen, and that I had 
 seen his brother in the cold embrace of death, it seemed as though 
 there was a void or vacuum in the great field of human existence to 
 me, and a dark, gloomy chasm in the kingdom, and that we were 
 left alone. Oh how lonely was that feeling ! How cold, barren and 
 desolate! In the midst of difficulties he was always the first in 
 motion; in critical positions his counsel was always sought. As 
 our prophet he approached our God, and obtained for us his will ; 
 but now our prophet, our counselor, our general, our leader was 
 gone, and amid the fiery ordeal that we then had to pass through, 
 we were left alone without his aid, and as our future guide for 
 things spiritual or temporal, and for all things pertaining to this 
 world or the next, he had spoken for the last time on earth ! 
 
 These reflections and a thousand others flashed upon my mind. 
 I thought, Why must the good perish, and the virtuous be destroyed ? 
 Why must God's nobility, the salt of the earth, the most exalted 
 of the human family, and the most perfect types of all excellence, 
 fall victims to the cruel, fiendish hate of incarnate devils? 
 
 The poignancy of my grief, I presume, however, was some- 
 what allayed by the extreme suffering that I endured from my 
 wounds. 
 
 Soon afterwards I was taken to the head of the stairs and laid 
 there, where I had a full view of our beloved and now murdered 
 Brother Hyrum. There he lay as I had left him ; he had not moved 
 a limb; he lay placid and calm, a monument of greatness even in 
 death ; but his noble spirit had left its tenement, and was gone to 
 dwell in regions more congenial to its exalted nature. Poor Hyrum ! 
 he was a great and good man, and my soul was cemented to his. 
 If ever there was an exemplary, honest, and virtuous man, an em- 
 bodiment of all that is noble in the human form, Hyrum Smith was 
 its representative. 
 
 While I lay there a number of persons came around, among 
 whom was a physician. The doctor, on seeing a ball lodged in my 
 
204 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 left hand, took a penknife from his pocket and made an incision 
 in it for the purpose of extracting the ball therefrom, and having 
 obtained a pair of carpenter's compasses, made use of them to draw 
 or pry out the ball, alternately using the penknife and compasses. 
 After sawing for some time with a dull penknife, and prying and 
 pulling with the compasses, he ultimately succeeded in extracting 
 the ball, which weighed about half an ounce. Some time afterwards 
 he remarked to a friend of mine that I had "nerves like the devil," 
 to stand what I did in its extraction. I really thought I had need 
 of nerves to stand such surgical butchery, and that, whatever my 
 nerves may be, his practice was devilish. 
 
 This company wished to remove me to Mr. Hamilton's hotel, 
 the place where we had staid previous to our incarceration in jail. 
 I told them, however, that I did not wish to go ; I did not consider 
 it safe. They protested that it was, and that I was safe with them ; 
 that it was a perfect outrage for men to be used as we had been; 
 that they were my friends; that it was for my good they were 
 counseling me, and that I could be better taken care of there than 
 here. 
 
 I replied, "I don't know you. Who am I among? I am sur- 
 rounded by assassins and murderers; witness your deeds! Don't 
 talk to me of kindness or comfort; look at your murdered victims. 
 Look at me ! I want none of your counsel nor comfort. There may 
 be some safety here ; I can be assured of none anywhere," etc. 
 
 They G — d — their souls to hell, made the most solemn asserva- 
 tions, and swore by God and the devil, and everything else that they 
 could think of, that they would stand by me to death and protect 
 me. In half an hour every one of them had fled from the town. 
 
 Soon after a coroner's jury were assembled in the room over 
 the body of Hyrum. Among the jurors was Captain Smith, of the 
 Carthage Grays, who had assisted in the murder, and the same 
 justice before whom we had been tried. I learned of Francis Higbee 
 as being in the neighborhood. On hearing his name mentioned, I 
 immediately arose and said, "Captain Smith, you are a justice of 
 the peace ; I have heard his name mentioned ; I want to swear my 
 life against him." I was informed that word was immediately sent 
 to him to leave the place, which he did. 
 
 Brother Richards was busy during this time attending to the 
 coroner's inquest, and to the removal of the bodies, and making 
 arrangements for their removal from Carthage to Nauvoo. 
 
 When he had a little leisure, he again came to me, and at his 
 suggestion I was removed to Hamilton's tavern. I felt that he was 
 the only friend, the only person, that I could rely upon in that 
 town. It was with difficulty that sufficient persons could be found 
 to carry me to the tavern; for immediately after the murder a 
 great fear fell upon all the people, and men, women, and children 
 fled with great precipitation, leaving nothing nor anybody in the 
 town but two or three women and children and one or two sick 
 persons. 
 
 It was with great difficulty that Brother Richards prevailed 
 upon Mr. Hamilton, hotel-keeper, and his family, to stay; they 
 
THE MARTYRDOM 205 
 
 would not until Brother Richards had given a solemn promise that 
 he would see them protected, and hence I was looked upon as a 
 hostage. Under these circumstances, notwithstanding, I believe 
 they were hostile to the Mormons, and were glad that the murder 
 had taken place, though they did not actually participate in it; 
 and, feeling that I should be a protection to them, they staid. 
 
 The whole community knew that a dreadful outrage had been 
 perpetrated by those villains, and fearing lest the citizens of 
 Nauvoo, as they possessed the power, might have a disposition to 
 visit them with a terrible vengeance, they fled in the wildest con- 
 fusion. And, indeed, it was with very great difficulty that the 
 citizens of Nauvoo could be restrained. A horrid, barbarous murder 
 had been committed, the most solemn pledge violated, and that, 
 too, while the victims were, contrary to the requirements of the 
 law, putting themselves into the hands of the governor to pacify 
 a popular excitement. This outrage was enhanced by the reflection 
 that our people were able to protect themselves against not only all 
 the mob, but against three times their number and that of the gov- 
 ernor's troops put together. They were also exasperated by the 
 speech of the governor in town. 
 
 The whole events were so faithless, so dastardly, so mean, 
 cowardly, and contemptible, without one extenuating circumstance, 
 that it would not have been surprising if the citizens of Nauvoo had 
 arisen en masse, and blotted the wretches out of existence. The 
 citizens of Carthage knew they would have done so under such 
 circumstances, and, judging us by themselves, they were all panic- 
 stricken, and fled. Colonel Markham, too, after his expulsion from 
 Carthage, had gone home, related the circumstances of his eject- 
 ment, and was using his influence to get a company to ero out. Fear- 
 ing that when the people heard that their prophet and patriarch had 
 been murdered under the above circumstances they might act 
 rashly, and knowing that if they once got roused, like a mighty 
 avalanche they would lay the country waste before them and take 
 a terrible vengeance — as none of the Twelve were in Nauvoo, and 
 no one, perhaps, with sufficient influence to control the people, 
 Dr. Richards, after consulting me, wrote the following note, fearing 
 that my family might be seriously affected by the news. I told him 
 to insert that I was slightly wounded. 
 
 Willard Richards' Note from Carthage Jail to Nauvoo * 
 
 "Carthage jail, 8 o'clock 5 min. p. m., June 27th, 1844. 
 "Joseph and Hyrum are dead. Taylor wounded, not very badly. 
 I am well. Our guard was forced, as we believe, by a band of Mis- 
 sourians from 100 to 200. The job was done in an instant, and the 
 party fled towards Nauvoo instantly. This is as I believe it. The 
 citizens here are afraid of the 'Mormons' attacking them ; I promise 
 them no. W. Richards. 
 
 "N. B. — The citizens promise us protection; alarm guns have 
 been fired. "John Taylor." 
 
 *Deseret News, No. 38, Nov. 25, 1857, p. 297. 
 
206 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 I remember signing my name as quickly as possible, lest the 
 tremor of my hand should be noticed, and the fears of my family 
 excited. 
 
 A messenger was dispatched immediately with the note, but 
 he was intercepted by the governor, who, on hearing a cannon fired 
 at Carthage, which was to be the signal for the murder, immediately 
 fled with his company, and fearing that the citizens of Nauvoo, 
 when apprised of the horrible outrage, would immediately rise and 
 pursue, he turned back the messenger, who was George D. Grant. 
 A second one was sent, who was treated similarly; and not until 
 a third attempt could news be got to Nauvoo. 
 
 Samuel H. Smith, brother to Joseph and Hyrum, was the first 
 brother I saw after the outrage ; I am not sure whether he took the 
 news or not ; he lived at the time in Plymouth, Hancock County, and 
 was on his way to Carthage to see his brothers, when he was met 
 by some of the troops, or rather mob, that had been dismissed by 
 the governor, and who were on their way home. On learning that 
 he was Joseph Smiths brother they sought to kill him, but he 
 escaped, and fled into the woods, where he was chased for a length 
 of time by them ; but, after severe fatigue, and much danger and 
 excitement, he succeeded in escaping, and came to Carthage. He 
 was on horseback when he arrived, and was not only very much 
 tired with the fatigue and excitement of the chase, but was also 
 very much distressed in feelings on account of the death of his 
 brothers. These things produced a fever, which laid the foundation 
 for his death, which took place on the 30th of July. Thus another 
 of the brothers fell a victim although not directly, but indirectly to 
 this infernal mob. 
 
 I lay from about five o'clock until two next morning without 
 having my wounds dressed, as there was scarcely any help of any 
 kind in Carthage, and Brother Richards was busy with the dead 
 bodies, preparing them for removal. My wife Leonora started early 
 the next day, having had some little trouble in getting a company 
 or a physician to come with her; after considerable difficulty she 
 succeeded in getting an escort, and Dr. Samuel Bennett came along 
 with her. Soon after my father and mother arrived from Oquakie, 
 near which place they had a farm at that time, and hearing of the 
 trouble hastened along. 
 
 General Demming, Brigadier General of the Hancock County 
 Militia, was very much of a gentleman, and showed me every 
 courtesy, and Colonel Jones also was very solicitous about my wel- 
 fare. 
 
 I was called upon by several gentlemen of Quincy and other 
 places, among whom was Judge Ralston, as well as by our own 
 people, and a medical man extracted a ball from my left thigh that 
 was giving me much pain ; it lay about half an inch deep, and my 
 thigh was considerably swollen. The doctor asked me if I would 
 be tied during the operation ; I told him no ; that I could endure the 
 cutting associated with the operation as well without, and I did so ; 
 indeed, so great was the pain I endured that the cutting was rather 
 a relief than otherwise. 
 
THE MARTYRDOM 207 
 
 A very laughable incident occurred at the time; my wife 
 Leonora went into an adjoining room to pray for me, that I might 
 be sustained during the operation. While on her knees at prayer, a 
 Mrs. Bedell, an old lady of the Methodist association, entered, and, 
 patting Mrs. Taylor on her back with her hand, said, "There's a 
 good lady, pray for God to forgive your sins, pray that you may 
 be converted, and the Lord may have mercy on your soul." 
 
 The scene was so ludicrous that Mrs. Taylor knew not whether 
 to laugh or be angry. Mrs. Taylor informed me that Mr. Hamilton, 
 the father of the Hamilton who kept the house, rejoiced at the mur- 
 der, and said in company that "it was done up in the best possible 
 style, and showed good generalship ;" and she further' believed that 
 the other branches of the family sanctioned it. These were the 
 associates of the old lady referred to, and yet she could talk of con- 
 version and saving souls in the midst of blood and murder : such is 
 man and such consistency. 
 
 The ball being extracted was the one that first struck me, 
 which I before referred to: it entered on the outside of my left 
 thigh, about five inches from my knee, and, passing rather obliquely 
 towards my body, had, it would seem, struck the bone, for it was 
 flatted out nearly as thin and large as a quarter of a dollar. 
 
 The governor passed on, staying at Carthage only a few min- 
 utes, and he did not stop until he got fifty miles from Nauvoo. There 
 had been various opinions about the complicity of the governor in 
 the murder, some supposing that he knew all about it, and assisted 
 or winked at its execution. It is somewhat difficult to form a correct 
 opinion; from the facts presented it is very certain that things 
 looked more than suspicious against him. 
 
 In the first place, he positively knew that we had broken no 
 law. 
 
 Secondly. He knew that the mob had not only passed inflam- 
 matory resolutions, threatening extermination to the Mormons, but 
 that they had actually assembled armed mobs and commenced hos- 
 tilities against us. 
 
 Thirdly. He took those very mobs that had been arrayed 
 against us, and enrolled them as his troops, thus legalizing their 
 acts. 
 
 Fourthly. He disbanded the Nauvoo Legion, which had never 
 violated law, and disarmed them, and had about his person in the 
 shape of militia known mobocrats and violaters of the law. 
 
 Fifthly. He requested us to come to Carthage without arms, 
 promising protection, and then refused to interfere in delivering 
 us from prison, although Joseph and Hyrum were put there con- 
 trary to law. 
 
 Sixthly. Although he refused to interfere in our behalf, yet, 
 when Captain Smith went to him and informed him that the persons 
 refused to come out, he told him that he had a command and knew 
 what to do, thus sanctioning the use of force in the violation of law 
 when opposed to us, whereas he would not for us interpose his 
 executive authority to free us from being incarcerated contrary 
 
208 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 to law, although he was fully informed of all the facts of the case, 
 as we kept him posted in the affairs all the time. 
 
 Seventhly. He left the prisoners in Carthage jail contrary to 
 his plighted faith. 
 
 Eighthly. Before he went he dismissed all the troops that could 
 be relied upon, as well as many of the mob, and left us in charge of 
 the "Carthage Grays," a company that he knew were mobocratic, 
 our most bitter enemies, and who had passed resolutions to extermi- 
 nate us, and who had been placed under guard by General Demming 
 only the day before. 
 
 Ninthly. He was informed of the intended murder, both be- 
 fore he left and while on the road, by several different parties. 
 
 Tenthly. When the cannon was fired in Carthage, signifying 
 that the deed was done, he immediately took up his line of march and 
 fled. How did he know that this signal portrayed their death if he 
 was not in the secret? It may be said some of the party told him. 
 How could he believe what the party said about the gun signal if 
 he could not believe the testimony of several individuals who told 
 him in positive terms about the contemplated murder? 
 
 He has, I believe, stated that he left the "Carthage Grays" there 
 because he considered that, as their town was contiguous to ours, 
 and as the responsibility of our safety rested solely upon them, 
 they would not dare suffer any indignity to befall us. This very ad- 
 mission shows that he did really expect danger ; and then he knew 
 that these people had published to the world that they would ex- 
 terminate us, and his leaving us in their hands and taking of their 
 responsibilities was like leaving a lamb in charge of a wolf, and 
 trusting to its humanity and honor for its safe-keeping. 
 
 It is said, again that he would not have gone to Nauvoo, and 
 thus placed himself in the hands of the Mormons, if he had antici- 
 pated any such event, as he would be exposed to their wrath. To 
 this it may be answered that the Mormons did not know their sig- 
 nals, while he did ; and they were also known in Warsaw, as well as 
 in other places; and as soon as the gun was fired, a merchant of 
 Warsaw jumped upon his horse and rode directly to Quincy, and 
 reported "Joseph and Hyrum killed, and those who were with them 
 in jail." He reported further that "they were attempting to break 
 jail, and were all killed by the guard." This was their story ; it was 
 anticipated to kill all, and the gun was to be the signal that the deed 
 was accomplished. This was known in Warsaw. The governor also 
 knew it and fled ; and he could really be in no danger in Nauvoo, for 
 the Mormons did not know it, and he had plenty of time to escape, 
 which he did. 
 
 It is said that he made all his officers promise solemnly that 
 they would help him to protect the Smiths ; this may or may not be. 
 At any rate, some of these officers helped to murder them. 
 
 The strongest argument in the governor's favor, and one that 
 would bear more weight with us than all the rest put together, 
 would be that he could not believe them capable of such atrocity; 
 and, thinking that their talk and threatenings were a mere ebulli- 
 tion of feeling, a kind of braggadocio, and that there was enough of 
 
THE MARTYRDOM 209 
 
 good moral feeling to control the more violent passions, he trusted 
 to their faith. There is, indeed, a degree of plausibility about this, 
 but when we put it in juxtaposition to the amount of evidence that 
 he was in possession of, it weighs very little. He had nothing to in- 
 spire confidence in them, and everything to make him mistrust them. 
 Besides, why his broken faith? why his disregard of what was told 
 him by several parties ? Again, if he knew not the plan, how did he 
 understand the signal? Why so oblivious to everything pertaining 
 to the Mormon interest, and so alive and interested about the mobo- 
 crats? At any rate, be this as it may, he stands responsible for 
 their blood, and it is dripping on his garments. If it had not been 
 for his promise of protection, they would have protected them- 
 selves; it was plighted faith that led them to the slaughter; and 
 to make the best of it, it was a breach of that faith and a non- 
 fulfillment of that promise, after repeated warning, that led to 
 their death. 
 
 Having said so much, I must leave the governor with my read- 
 ers and with his God. Justice, I conceive, demanded this much, and 
 truth could not be told with less ; as I have said before, my opinion 
 is that the governor would not have planned this murder, but he 
 had not sufficient energy to resist popular opinion, even if that 
 opinion led to blood and death. 
 
 It was rumored that a strong political party, numbering in its 
 ranks many of the prominent men of the nation, were engaged in a 
 plot for the overthrow of Joseph Smith, and that the governor was 
 of this party, and Sharp, Williams, Captain Smith, and others were 
 his accomplices, but whether this was the case or not I do not know. 
 It is very certain that a strong political feeling existed against Jo- 
 seph Smith, and I have reason to believe that his letters to Henry 
 Clay, were made use of by political parties opposed to Mr. Clay, 
 and were the means of that statesman's defeat. Yet, if such a com- 
 bination as the one referred to existed, I am not apprised of it. 
 
 While I lay at Carthage, previous to Mrs. Taylor's arrival, a 
 pretty good sort of a man, who was lame of a leg, waited upon me, 
 and sat up at night with me ; afterwards Mrs. Taylor, mother and 
 others waited upon me. 
 
 Many friends called upon me, among whom were Richard 
 Ballantyne, Elizabeth Taylor, several of the Perkins Family, and a 
 number of the brethren from Macedonia and La Harpe. Besides 
 these, many strangers from Quincy, some of whom expressed in- 
 dignant feelings against the mob and sympathy for myself. Brother 
 Alexander Williams called upon me, who suspected that they had 
 some designs in keeping me there, and stated that he had, at a giv- 
 en point in some woods, fifty men, and if I would say the word he 
 would raise another fifty, and fetch me out of there. I thanked 
 him, but told him I thought there was no need. However, it would 
 seem that I was in some danger ; for Colonel Jones, before referred 
 to, when absent from me, left two loaded pistols on the table in 
 case of an attack, and some time afterward, when I had recovered 
 and was publishing the affair, a lawyer, Mr. Backman, stated that 
 he had prevented a man by the name of Jackson, before referred 
 to, from ascending the stairs, who was coming with a design to 
 
210 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 murder me, and that now he was sorry he had not let him do the 
 deed. 
 
 There were others also, of whom I heard, that said I ought to 
 be killed, and they would do it, but that it was too damned cowardly 
 to shoot a wounded man; and thus, by the chivalry of murderers, 
 I was prevented from being a second time mutilated or killed. Many 
 of the mob, came around and treated me with apparent respect, 
 and the officers and people generally looked upon me as a hostage, 
 and feared that my removal would be the signal for the rising of 
 the Mormons. 
 
 I do not remember the time that I stayed at Carthage, but I 
 think three or four days after the murder, when Brother Marks 
 with a carriage, Brother James Allred with a wagon, Dr. Ells, and 
 a number of others on horseback, came for the purpose of taking 
 me to Nauvoo. I was very weak at the time, occasioned by the loss 
 of blood and the great discharge of my wounds, so when my wife 
 asked me if I could talk I could barely whisper, no. Quite a dis- 
 cussion arose as to the propriety of my removal, the physician and 
 people of Carthage protesting that it would be my death, while 
 my friends were anxious for my removal if possible. 
 
 I suppose the former were actuated by the above-named desire 
 to keep me. Colonel Jones was, I believe, sincere ; he had acted as a 
 friend all the time, and he told Mrs. Taylor she ought to persuade 
 me not to go, for he did not believe I had strength enough to reach 
 Nauvoo. It was finally agreed, however, that I should go; but it 
 was thought that I could not stand riding in a wagon or carriage, 
 they prepared a litter for me; I was carried down stairs and put 
 upon it. A number of men assisted to carry me, some of them had 
 been engaged in the mob. As soon as I got down stairs, I felt much 
 better and strengthened, so that I could talk; I suppose the effect 
 of the fresh air. 
 
 When we got near the outside of the town I remembered some 
 woods that we had to go through, and telling a person near to call 
 for Dr. Ells, who was riding a very good horse, I said, ''Doctor, I 
 perceive that the people are getting fatigued with carrying me ; a 
 number of Mormons live about two or three miles from here, near 
 our route, will you ride to their settlement as quick as possible, and 
 have them come and meet us?" He started off on a gallop im- 
 mediately. My object in this was to obtain protection in case of an 
 attack, rather than to obtain help to carry me. 
 
 Very soon after the men from Carthage made one excuse after 
 another until they had all left, and I felt glad to get rid of them. I 
 found that the tramping of those carrying me produced violent pain, 
 and a sleigh was produced and attached to the hind end of Brother 
 James Allred's wagon, a bed placed upon it, and I propped up on 
 the bed. Mrs. Taylor rode with me, applying ice and ice-water to 
 my wounds. As the sleigh was dragged over the grass on the 
 prairie, which was quite tall, it moved very easy and gave me very 
 little pain. 
 
 When I got within five or six miles of Nauvoo the brethren 
 commenced to meet me from the city, and they increased in num- 
 
THE MARTYRDOM 211 
 
 ber as we drew nearer, until there was a very large company of 
 people of all ages and both sexes, principally, however, men. 
 
 For some time there had been almost incessant rain, so that in 
 many low places on the prairie it was from one to three feet deep 
 in water, and at such places the brethren whom we met took hold 
 of the sleigh, lifted it, and carried it over the water ; and when we 
 arrived in the neighborhood of the city, where the roads were ex- 
 cessively muddy and bad, the brethren tore down the fences, and 
 we passed through the fields. 
 
 Never shall I forget the difference of feeling that I experienced 
 between the place that I had left and the one I had now arrived 
 at. I had left a lot of reckless, bloodthirsty murderers, and had 
 come to the City of the Saints, the people of the living God ; friends 
 of truth and righteousness, thousands of whom stood there with 
 warm, true hearts to offer their friendship and services, and to 
 welcome my return. It is true it was a painful scene, and brought 
 sorrowful remembrance to mind, but to me it caused a thrill of joy 
 to find myself once more in the bosom of my friends, and to meet 
 with the cordial welcome of true, honest hearts. What was very 
 remarkable, I found myself very much better after my arrival at 
 Nauvoo than I was when I started on my journey, although I had 
 traveled eighteen miles. 
 
 The next day as some change was wanting, I told Mrs. Taylor 
 that if she could send to Dr. Richards, he had my purse and watch, 
 and they would find money in my purse. 
 
 Previous to the doctor leaving Carthage, I told him that he had 
 better take my purse and watch, for I was afraid the people would 
 steal them. The doctor had taken my pantaloons' pocket, and put 
 the watch in it with the purse, cut off the pocket, and tied a string 
 around the top; it was in this position when brought home. My 
 family, however, were not a little startled to find that my watch 
 had been struck with a ball. I sent for my vest, and, upon exam- 
 ination, it was found that there was a cut as if with a knife, in the 
 vest pocket which had contained my watch. In the pocket the frag- 
 ments of the glass were found literally ground to powder. It then 
 occurred to me that a ball had struck me at the time I felt myself 
 falling out of the window, and that it was this force that threw me 
 inside. I had often remarked to Mrs. Taylor the singular fact of 
 finding myself inside the room, when I felt a moment before after 
 being shot, that I was falling out, and I never could account for it 
 until then; but here the thing was fully elucidated, and was ren- 
 dered plain to my mind. I was indeed falling out, when some vil- 
 lain aimed at my heart. The ball struck my watch, and forced me 
 back ; If I had fallen out I should assuredly have been killed, if not 
 by the fall, by those around, and this ball intended to dispatch me, 
 was turned by an overruling Providence into a messenger of mercy, 
 and saved my life. I shall never forget the feelings of gratitude 
 that I then experienced towards my Heavenly Father; the whole 
 scene was vividly portrayed before me, and my heart melted before 
 the Lord. I felt that the Lord had preserved me by a special act of 
 
212 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 mercy ; that my time had not yet come, and that I had still a work 
 to perform upon the earth. 
 
 The Rise and Fall of Nauvoo, pp. 404-457. 
 
 From pages 547 to 624, Vol. 6, Documentary History of the Church is given 
 a more detailed account of events than what John Taylor has recorded, to 
 which the reader is referred. 
 
 AN EYE WITNESS TO JOSEPH SMITH'S DEATH 
 
 Col. M. B. Darnell of Sheldon, Iowa, has been visiting Salt Lake 
 City. He is an interesting figure to the people of Utah in that he is 
 probably the only living eye witness of the assassination of the 
 Prophet Joseph Smith at Carthage, Illinois, June 27, 1844. 
 
 "You know it is a long time since then," said Col. Darnell. 
 "It is fifty years ago, and my memory may be faulty in some par- 
 ticulars, but I will relate that only which I remember distinctly. 
 When the Mormons came to Commerce, they changed the name to 
 Nauvoo, and built the place up rapidly until there were about 
 15,000 people in the city. The inhabitants of that part of the state 
 were of the rougher element to a great extent. The county offices 
 were profitable positions, because there was big opportunity 
 for stealing, so there was considerable rivalry between Whigs 
 and Democrats as to who should get in. The Mormons were 
 not in it as a political party, but they held the balance of power, 
 and of course they voted for those they considered the best 
 men. This caused great hostility toward the Mormons on the 
 part of the 'antis.' They wanted to get rid of the Mormons for 
 political reasons, so they fed the feeling against them. There was 
 lots of stealing going on, and it was charged to the Mormons. The 
 women and children were taught to believe the Mormons guilty, 
 but I do not. I know that stealing was done by others, and that 
 the Mormons as a community were not chargeable with it. Of 
 course there may have been some Mormons who stole, but it was 
 mostly the rough element, and the fire-eating anti-Mormons ac- 
 cused the Mormons so as to get them driven out. The 'law and 
 order' men, as we called them, wanted the courts to settle all mat- 
 ters, and were called 'Jack-Mormons' by the 'antis.' I was a stu- 
 dent under General M. R. Demming. He got me a commission as 
 lieutenant from Gov. Ford. He commanded the mob that arrested 
 the Smiths at Nauvoo, but he was there as a friend of order. I call 
 the posse comitatus that made the arrest a mob, because that was 
 what it really was. They went through the process of law merely 
 for form's sake. It was called a war at that time. When the posse 
 was called by the sheriff, John Carlin, I was in the crowd and con- 
 sidered myself summoned, as it were, to assist in making the arrest. 
 
 "My recollection is we were there in Carthage a week. We 
 went just outside the town and pitched our tents. We camped there 
 and played soldiers as well as we knew how. Some way or other, 
 I do not know how, communication was had by which the Smiths 
 agreed to give themselves up, and the officers went out and met 
 them about half way in the prairie and brought them in. They 
 took them to the Hamilton house, a hotel, and held them there for 
 
THE MARTYRDOM 213 
 
 a couple of days, probably determining in their own mind what they 
 were going to do. As an officer on Gen. Demming's staff it was my 
 duty to take this company called the Carthage Greys, down to the 
 hotel and form a hollow square, and they had a man with them by 
 the name, I think, of Scribling. He was attorney or counselor for 
 the prisoners, I understood. They put the prisoners in the center 
 of the square and marched them down to the general headquarters 
 while they had their conference. The posse had the Smiths in their 
 power and seemed disposed to make terms of some kind to determine 
 what course would be pursued. At the end of about a couple of 
 days they were placed in jail, which was a two story stone struc- 
 ture and overhead were very nice rooms, in one of which there was 
 a bed. They were called the debtors' rooms. Very soon after the 
 prisoners were placed in jail, it might have been the same day, 
 the troops as we called them, were all called together and Gov. 
 Ford addressed them. In his speech he stated that the object of 
 their assembling had been accomplished; that the writ had been 
 executed and the parties were in jail. He commanded the 
 troops to disband and go to their several places of abode, and most 
 of them did so. 
 
 "On the afternoon of the day of the assassination, the mob who 
 did the killing came up. They had their faces painted a sort of 
 brown color. I saw this crowd of men coming up from the direc- 
 tion of the creek at the northwest corner of the pasture. I was 
 standing within ten or twenty steps of the pasture gate east of the 
 jail. The crowd was coming single file, and stooping down. They 
 had on blue hunting shirts. I knew something terrible was going to 
 happen. I was a youth at the time and became transfixed to the 
 spot. As the crowd turned the southwest corner of the jail, about 
 one-half of them went right up the stairway, the other half came 
 right against me. I got out of their way, and a moment afterwards 
 I heard the report of a gun in the house. That was supposed to be 
 the shot which killed Hyrum Smith. Joseph started to jump 
 through the window, and the mob fired at him. He came out on 
 the east side of the building. There was a large well just under- 
 neath there and he fell just outside the curb. Joseph was killed 
 while passing out of the window. The Carthage Greys, it is said — 
 and I have no doubt with truth, for I look at this thing very dif- 
 ferent now from what I did then, because I know more about men, 
 their motives and dispositions — I say there is no doubt that the 
 Carthage Greys were cognizant of the fact that that mob was com- 
 ing. I believe every man of them knew it, and I also believe that 
 their guns were charged with blank cartridges. When they fired 
 a few shots at the mob no one was hurt. The faces of the mob were 
 painted a kind of Indian color. The Carthage Greys were a very 
 nicely drilled company. It would seem to me that the mob were not 
 any larger in number than the Carthage Greys. From my recol- 
 lection I think the number was very nearly equal — about thirty or 
 forty men in each. I do not believe that the estimate of one hun- 
 dred men in the mob is at all correct. Probably there were fifty 
 to eighty in the mob; I thought there were less. It was thought 
 there at the time that Thomas C. Sharp was the ringleader — the 
 
214 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 moving spirit of the mob. He commenced life as an attorney, but 
 did not succeed, and became a newspaper editor. When I last saw 
 him, several years ago, he was quite aged. I know there was such 
 a man as William M. Daniels, but do not know what became of 
 him. I knew Frank Worrell, commander of the guard at the jail. He 
 was afterwards killed outside of Nauvoo, during the Mormon war 
 in 1846. I also knew Alexander Sympson and his sons. They were 
 at the jail. They were fiery anti-Mormons. 
 
 "I remember to have seen Joseph Smith jump from the win- 
 dow. It was a terribly exciting time and it all happened in an 
 instant. I cannot describe it in any better way than by saying he 
 came out just as though some one big and powerful had thrown him 
 right through the window. Undoubtedly, however, he came by his 
 own effort. He certainly did not hang to the window. It seems 
 to me he came out head first, and he was shot while passing through 
 the window. I do not know that I really saw any one set him up 
 against the well. I know I partially saw it and got it from what 
 they said at the time. I could not hear distinctly what Joseph said 
 when he fell, but it seemed to me to be, "0 Lord, My God." That 
 was all he said. I think he raised himself to a sitting position. A 
 young man went up and struck him either with the end of his gun 
 or a bayonet, after he was dead, you may say. I did not notice 
 whether they fired into him after he was set up by the well. I 
 have the idea, however, that the young man went up to him and 
 ran his bayonet through him, or rushed at him with his gun. I do 
 not believe there was a gun fired after he struck the ground, and 
 still I may be mistaken. I tell you those bullets came instantaneous- 
 ly. I did not notice any one raise a knife for the purpose of sever- 
 ing Joseph's head from his body, but I heard at the time that a 
 young man did so. Those things might have been true. I was not 
 one of the mob, but was one of the disbanded posse. I was going to 
 the pasture after my horse, and was so close at the time that if I 
 had been dressed like the mob I might have been considered one of 
 their number. The young man who struck Joseph claimed to be a 
 son of Gov. Boggs. He rushed from the mob after Joseph was set 
 up and struck him with the point of his gun or bayonet, and said, 
 "G — d — you ; you are the man that had my father shot." Of course 
 Joseph Smith might have been alive with the bullets in his body, 
 and have set himself up. I am satisfied he was alive then. If a 
 gun was fired at him after he fell from the window I don't remember 
 it. My memory is dim on some things, but I know there was great 
 excitement just at the time. 
 
 "The firing was .all done in a moment. Then there was a sort 
 of recognition between the Carthage Greys and the mob, as they 
 mingled after Joseph was lying dead on the ground. I remember 
 now that there was some talk right on the ground there within 
 twenty minutes after the assassination about a man going up with 
 a knife to cut off Joseph's head or disembowel him. I did not hear 
 any reason given why he did not carry out his threat. I merely 
 heard the young man say what I have stated as he made a lunge 
 at him. I was away perhaps eleven or twelve feet. The guns were 
 rattling and the men were swearing. 
 
THE MARTYRDOM 215 
 
 "In a little while the mob went back the way they came, where 
 I understood they had animals to help them away. I could not 
 recognize the mobbers very well, because of their disguise, but I 
 remember Sharp, Hendricks, Davis and some of the others, who 
 were afterwards known as having been there. It was a terrible 
 deed, and the law and order people there have no excuse for it. 
 We were not civilized there then as we are now, but there was 
 nothing to justify the assassination. It was the work of fiery anti- 
 Mormons who wanted the Mormons driven out of the state." 
 
 Millennial Star, 56:252-55. 
 
 THE KILLING OF JOSEPH AND HYRUM 
 
 (Note: One day when visiting Mr. S. H. Goodwin, Secretary of 
 the Masonic Lodge of Salt Lake City, he stated that when visiting 
 the Chicago City Library, the Manuscript Department, he saw a 
 letter written by Col. Williams, the leader of the mob who murdered 
 the Prophet Joseph and his brother Hyrum, to a relative of his. 
 I immediately wrote to President George S. Romney of the Northern 
 States Mission, suggesting to him that he look into the matter and 
 secure a copy of this letter. In a few weeks I received a note from 
 Pres. Romney as follows: 
 
 "Brother Lundwall: This letter from Samuel Ottis Williams to 
 Mr. Prickett is the only one I can find that in any way resembles the 
 one you wrote to me about. Do you think it could be the one? I ap- 
 preciate your letter very much. Many thanks. 
 
 Signed: Geo. S. Romney." 
 
 This letter follows verbatim: 
 
 My dear John: Carthage, July 10, 1844. 
 
 I have just this moment received your letter of the first and 
 hasten to answer it. I proceed to give you a history of our diffi- 
 culties with the Saints. About a month ago a paper was started 
 in Nauvoo called the Nauvoo Expositor owned by several of the 
 seceding saints which had for its purpose the exposure of the 
 Smiths and all villainy practiced by them and in the City under 
 their direction. 
 
 The first number of the paper was issued and the way it let 
 out on Jo was a sin. Jo called the City Council together and after 
 much deliberation and talk the new paper was declared a nuisance, 
 and they passed an ordinance requiring the marshal of the city to 
 destroy the press and pi the type and if any resistance was offered 
 to destroy the house. The Mayor of the City (Jo) accordingly 
 issued his writ to the Marshal commanding him to do the work 
 which he did. He with his posse (the marshal) threw the press 
 into the street and broke it up with a sledge hammer and burned 
 the type. The Mormons also tried to catch the owners of the Press 
 but they escaped. Several of them came here. 
 
 Complaint was made here before a Justice of the Peace, who 
 issued his warrant and sent a constable to bring them. (Jo and all 
 the others concerned, about 20 in number.) The Municipal Court 
 of the City of Nauvoo discharged the balance on writs of Habeas 
 Corpus. These potent words were entered on the record. "Hon- 
 orably discharged. W." As soon as we heard of the press being 
 
216 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 destroyed a meeting of the old citizens was called and was in ses- 
 sion at the time the officer returned from Nauvoo without the 
 prisoners. Of course, such an excitement I never did see in my life. 
 
 There were about seven hundred of the old citizens assembled 
 here and I tell you that we all felt that the time had come when 
 either the Mormons or old citizens had to leave. The meeting de- 
 termined to call for volunteers to rendezvous at four places in this 
 county and when a sufficient number had assembled the constable 
 that arrested Smith and the others was to call on us as a posse 
 comitatus to help him arrest the accused. Our Brigadier General 
 in the meantime called out the forces under his command. The 
 meeting also appointed two persons to go to the Governor and get 
 him to issue a call for the Militia. 
 
 They repaired to Springfield and returned with his Excel- 
 lency — when the Gov. arrived here he found about 300 men armed 
 and drilling four hours each day and standing guard at night. Our 
 Company the Carthage Greys as soon as the meeting came to the 
 conclusion it did, pitched our tents on the public square and went 
 to work. The Gov. after his arrival made a speech to the troops 
 and announced his determination to see the laws executed and im- 
 mediately dispatched a messenger to Nauvoo to Smith telling him 
 the consequences if he did not immediately surrender himself for 
 trial, this was on Friday. 
 
 On Sunday a whole regiment marched into town from Mc- 
 Donough County and on the next Tuesday a Battalion from Schuy- 
 ler County which made the forces here amount to about 1400 men. 
 As the different forces marched into town they pledged themselves 
 that no violence should be offered to the prisoners if they did come 
 to Carthage. 
 
 On Tuesday the Gov. sent Capt. Dunn of the Union Dragoons 
 of this county to Nauvoo with an order for the state arms with 
 wagons and horses to bring them here. On the road between this 
 place and Nauvoo they met Smith and the others accused coming 
 to this place to give themselves up for trial. They returned to 
 Nauvoo with Capt. Dunn and about two-thirds of the State Arms 
 delivered to Capt. Dunn and the two Smiths, Jo and Hyrum came 
 out here with Capt. Dunn with the arms. 
 
 On Wednesday morning the McDonough troops requested the 
 Gov. to bring Smith, (Jo) along their lines, many of whom had 
 never seen him. The two Smiths were after breakfast brought to 
 the Headquarters of the Brigadier General and our company sta- 
 tioned at the door as a guard — your humble Servant had com- 
 mand of the Greys at this time. I brought the company up to the 
 house and formed a square of three sides in front of the house with 
 their muskets set at "Charge" and even then had some difficulty 
 in keeping the crowd back so great was the anxiety to see the 
 Smiths. We stood in this position about half an hour when I re- 
 ceived orders from the Brig. Gen. to form the Grey's into a Hollow 
 square and guard the Smiths and the Gov. and the Gen. to the right 
 of the 57th Regt., which formed about 300 yards from the Gen- 
 eral's quarters, which was accordingly done, and when we arrived 
 
THE MARTYRDOM 217 
 
 there I opened the square and let them out and marched the Greys 
 back to their "quarters." 
 
 I was about to dismiss the company when the Smiths in 
 company with the Brig. Gen. came past our quarters. The company 
 in line at "order arms" when the Greys commenced hissing, groan- 
 ing, and making all sorts of hellish sounds. I tried to stop it but 
 could not. I was about to dismiss the company again when several 
 of them requested me to march out and drill awhile. I accordingly 
 marched out and started down a street on which the Tavern stands 
 that Jo was stopping at. On the way we passed the Brig. Gen. and 
 the Greys viped him the worst kind and arrived in a few minutes 
 afterwards in front of the Tavern where Jo was when the same 
 scene was enacted. Hissing, groaning, and all kinds of discordant 
 sounds. I all the time tried my utmost to preserve silence, but had 
 no more command than I would have had over a pack of wild In- 
 dians. At this demonstration of feeling on the part of the Greys, 
 Jo actually fainted. 
 
 I will now tell you the reason of all the hissing and etc. The 
 Greys thought we were ordered to escort Smith and that it was in- 
 tended as an honor to be conferred on him, and the General always 
 has been what we call a Jack Mormon. I believe I have told you 
 what that is and therefore won't stop to explain now — A few days 
 before at our Anti-Mormon meeting he attempted to make a speech 
 and was hissed down. 
 
 Well to resume where we arrived at our quarters. I was in- 
 formed that our company was ordered under "Arrest." A member 
 of the company immediately mounted a wagon and made a speech 
 to the troops and the remainder loaded their muskets with Ball 
 Cartridges and swore that they would die sooner than give up 
 their arms. A considerable number of the troops, say one half 
 swore that the arms of the Greys should not be taken from them. 
 If you had been here to see the excitement at this time you would 
 have been astonished. I never saw anything to equal it. The Brig. 
 Gen. had insulted the McDonough troops by introducing the Smiths 
 in this way: "Gentlemen officers of the 57th Regt., I introduce to 
 you Joseph and Hyrum Smith, Generals of the Nauvoo Legion." 
 They at the same time, prisoners. 
 
 At this stage of the proceedings the- Gov. came on the ground 
 and stated that no honor was intended to be conferred on the 
 Smiths : that it was done at the request of the 57th Regt., that they 
 might see him. That he disapproved of the way of introducing 
 the prisoners and rescinded the order of arrest. At this time the 
 shout of the multitude ascended to the heavens. We cheered the Gov. 
 for about two minutes and we made some noise. This settled all 
 things for the present. 
 
 The same day an order was issued to all the troops to march 
 on Friday into Nauvoo. The whole rendezvous on Thursday night 
 at Golden Point about five miles below Nauvoo and the former or- 
 der of march was revoked. The Gov. thinking that if, we once got 
 into Nauvoo that he could not restrain the troops and that we would 
 burn the place. On Friday morning all the troops except the 
 
218 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 Union Dragoons — Carthage Greys and the Carthage Riflemen (the 
 last a Militia Company) were disbanded and left for home. Jo 
 and Hyrum all this time in jail. I forgot to say that 15 of these 
 concerned in destroying the press came forward and gave bail for 
 their appearance at the next term of the Circuit Court without an 
 examination and immediately afterward Jo and Hyrum were ar- 
 rested on a charge of Treason and the examination was postponed 
 until Saturday the 29th which time they were destined never to see. 
 
 On Friday about 10 o'clock a.m. the Gov. under the escort of 
 the Union Dragoons started for Nauvoo to address the people there. 
 Leaving our company and the Militia Company to protect the pris- 
 oners. They being under a pledge to do so. All was quiet at this 
 time. A guard of six men was placed at the jail with a sergeant to 
 command it which was relieved about every three hours. When the 
 Gov. had been gone about 2 hours he sent back a messenger to Capt. 
 Smith stating that he was afraid some violence would be offered 
 to the prisoners and that he expected him to do his duty. The same 
 messenger was sent back to the Gov. that we would. 
 
 5 o'clock p.m. our look-out of the courthouse cried out, "there's 
 about 400 Mormons coming down the fence to the jail." I cannot 
 explain to you the situation of the jail and our encampment on 
 paper. But when I see you (which I hope will be soon) I will show 
 you. As soon as the alarm was given our company and the Militia 
 Company was immediately formed and started for the jail which 
 was about 700 yards from our quarters. At the time the alarm 
 was given the mob were within about 200 yards of the jail. We 
 marched double quick time and when we got to the jail both the 
 Smiths were killed, and the mob running off. When the mob came 
 up in front of the jail our guard challenged them. The mob de- 
 manded the prisoners. They were told that if they did not retire 
 the guard would fire on them. The mob raised a shout and com- 
 menced jumping over the low fence in front of the jail when our 
 guard fired on them. The guard were not hurt except some bruises. 
 One of the guard who was the sergeant in command lost his sword 
 and another his musket. The guard in return captured a musket 
 and a rifle. The mob all had their faces blacked. 
 
 When we were marching to the jail about 150 yards from the 
 jail, we saw Jo come to the window and turn back and in about a 
 second or two afterwards he came to the window and tumbled out. 
 He was shot several times and a bayonet run through him after 
 he fell. From all the information I can get the mob were about 250 
 strong. The forces left to guard the prisoners about 60 to 65 strong. 
 A messenger was immediately dispatched to the Gov. who returned 
 here about 12 o'clock that night and advised us to evacuate the 
 town. After the Smiths were killed all the women and children 
 were removed from town and the men were determined to stay and 
 protect their property, but when the Gov. came in and stated he 
 believed our town would be in ashes before morning we all left and 
 deserted the town. 
 
 Stop — there were six men in town at daylight Saturday morn- 
 
THE MARTYRDOM 219 
 
 ing. I was not one of them, I left Carthage about half past one 
 and traveled all night through mud and water knee deep in some 
 places. I arrived at Augusta about 7 o'clock Saturday morning 
 having traveled 18 miles and considering the roads, was tolerably 
 good walking. The Gov. was badly scared and stopped in this place 
 but a few minutes and left for Augusta. Arrived there about day- 
 light and left there directly after breakfast for Quincy where he 
 now is. 
 
 What will be the result of the death of the Smiths I am en- 
 tirely unable to say. The Mormons are very badly scared and I 
 don't think they will do anything at present. The citizens of this 
 place have nearly all returned. Samuelson Ottis Williams 
 
 P. S. I think I will be in Edwardsville soon, anyhow as soon 
 as I can leave. Our company is still under orders and I can't leave 
 just yet. My family sent off to Rushville, 50 miles from here as 
 soon as they could start after the Smiths were killed and I returned 
 here with them yesterday. I suppose your letter has been lying 
 here several days. This will account for its not being answered be- 
 fore. My family are all well, that is, my wife and boy and gal. I 
 rather guess you will think I have inherited some of Old Henry T. 
 Lusks principles in writing this letter, but I could not well make 
 it shorter and besides I want to make you repent of taking such an 
 unwarrantable privilege as to intrude upon the attention of 
 
 Your friend, S. Ottis Williams 
 
 WITNESSED THE PROPHET'S MARTYRDOM 
 
 By President E. H. Nye 
 
 "I and my companion spent an evening recently with a gentle- 
 man who witnessed the killing of the Prophet Joseph Smith. He 
 was then employed as a stage driver between Nauvoo and Keokuk, 
 with Carthage as a half-way station, and came rattling into Carth- 
 age with the stage. Driving past the old jail, he says, he saw the 
 mob on one side and a large number of the regulars on the other. 
 He drove past the jail on one side to the hotel, delivered his mail 
 and passengers. Then, whirling around and passing on the other 
 side of the jail to reach his stable, the shooting commenced as 
 his passengers were getting out, and as he drove past the jail 
 towards his stable, the Prophet Joseph jumped out of the window. 
 He saw him fall and saw them set him up against the well. He 
 says that as soon as the stableman took charge of the team, he 
 jumped off and ran, frightened half out of his wits. 
 
 "This man speaks in the highest terms of commendation and 
 praise of the Prophet Joseph and his family. He says that he 
 arrived in Nauvoo at night, a stranger, about a year prior to the 
 death of Joseph Smith, without money or friends, a boy about 
 14 years of age, having understood that his brother lived there. 
 On inquiring for his brother, he learned that it was eight miles 
 to his home, with snow on the ground and very cold. The gentle- 
 
220 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 man of whom he inquired, took him over to a large house that 
 he thought was a hotel, and told the man of the house the situ- 
 ation, who said, "Come in, son; we'll take care of you." He was 
 taken in, warmed, fed and lodged. The next day was bitter cold, 
 and the man of the house, who he learned was Joseph Smith, told 
 him to content himself in peace; it was too cold for him to go 
 out to his brother's place alone; some teams would be in from 
 there, and then he could go out. The boy said he had no money, 
 but he was told not to worry about that; they would take care of 
 him. After this incident he became well acquainted with Joseph 
 Smith, who always called him "sonny," and after the boy ob- 
 tained the position of stage driver, Joseph Smith rode with him 
 repeatedly. 
 
 "This man and wife, now in their old age, are investigating 
 the doctrines of the gospel, with a strong probability that ere 
 long they will enter the fold." Millennial Star, 60:139-40. 
 
 LETTER WRITTEN BY THOMAS L. BARNES 
 
 (This Dr. Barnes is the identical person who is mentioned by John 
 Taylor as the man who took the bullet from his hand, using a car- 
 penter^ compass and a dull pen knife. This letter* was written 
 to Miranda Barnes Haskett, his eldest daughter, from Ukiah City, 
 Mendocino County, California.) 
 
 Well, Miranda, I suppose you would like me to tell you some- 
 thing about the killing of the Smiths and what led to it. Some 
 person made complaint under oath before a Justice of the Peace 
 charging Jo Smith with some grave offence. I do not now re- 
 member what the offence was. A warrant was issued by the 
 Justice of the Peace, and given to a Constable to serve. I met 
 the Constable on his way to Nauvoo to serve the writ; I told 
 (him) I would go with him, which I did. He served the writ on 
 the accused without any trouble. As was usual in such cases, 
 where a grave charge is made against a prominent person, almost 
 every person in the vicinity would soon know it. 
 
 The City authorities was granted by their charter as they 
 supposed unlimited authority. They issued a writ of habious 
 corpus. (I believe that is what they called the writ.) and took 
 the accused out of the Constable's hands and set him at liberty. 
 While this proceeding was going on, in conversation with Mr. 
 Smith, he said to me he was not guilty of that nor any other 
 crime. Said he, let them charge me with any crime, I do not care 
 what it is, I can prove that I was not there and did not do it. (I 
 said to him if they will fix the time and place.) He answered as a 
 matter of course or words to that effect. 
 
 Well the Constable returned to Carthage and made his return 
 of his warrent. That fact that the Municipal authorities of Nau- 
 voo had set the authorities of the state at defiance and taken a 
 man charged with crime out of the hands of an officer of the law, 
 caused great excitement all over that part of the state. Public 
 
 ♦Spelling exactly as in original letter. 
 
THE MARTYRDOM 221 
 
 meetings were held, inflamitory speeches were made in more than 
 one place in the county. The Governor was petitioned to send the 
 milita of the state to inforce obedience to the law. The governor 
 sent some two or three companies of the state troops into the 
 county. A part of the malitia rendisvoosed at Carthage and a part 
 at Warsaw. It was arrainged that on a certain day they were to 
 march to Nauvoo. They all professed to be ready and anxious to 
 fight, if needs be kill, and drive the Mormons out of the county. 
 In the meantim Smith had surendered himsef to the officers of 
 the law. The Governor disbanded the soldiers that was at Carth- 
 age, and sent word to them at Warsaw who was then on the march 
 for Nauvoo. When they got the disbanding order many of them 
 wer indignant at the Governor, resigned their offices and formed 
 themselves into a mob determed to have satisfaction of the Smiths 
 any way whether by authority of law or by violence. The men 
 that was willing to set all laws aside and have the life of the 
 
 Smiths at any formed a new company and started to 
 
 Carthage where the Smiths Jo and Hyrum John Taylor the editor 
 of the Mormon paper, and Willard Richards privet secretary to 
 Jo Smith were. Joseph Smith was presumably in the hands of 
 the Constable and the others his friends were with him to in 
 charge of an officer. 
 
 The under sheriff and jailer lived in the jail. The jail was a 
 two story stone house. The lower story and part of the upper 
 story was occupied by the jailor and his family. The jail proper 
 was in the north end of the building up stairs, divided off into 
 cells. The front room up stairs was a kind of a family room. At 
 the head of the stairs there was two doors, one entering into the 
 family room and the other entering into the jail proper. 
 
 I have tried to be a little particular in discribing the house 
 so as to give you an idea of the way the mob got to their victims. 
 I said this new company or mob as they realy were had some 
 understanding of some of the citizens of our town. I want you 
 to know and believe, my daughter, that I had nothing (to) do 
 with the murder of the Smiths, or any other person and during 
 all the excitement I never did any thing to any one that I would 
 not under like circumstances they should do to me. 
 
 I said I thought some of our citizens — citizens of Carthage 
 I mean — was privy to the hole matter. One of them, a prominent 
 man and a man of influence, came to me just befor the cowardly 
 murder was committed and asked me to go out on the road to- 
 ward Nauvoo and see what was going on out that way. I went 
 and John Wilson an old citizen and Doctor Morrison a prominent 
 Physician went with me. We went about three miles from Carth- 
 age, on the Nauvoo road, where we had a fine view of the country 
 all around, the country being pararie all around, we could see very 
 plain where the Carthage and Warsaw road was. We saw going 
 on that road quite a company going hurriedly in the direction (of) 
 Carthage. It was not long till we could see quite a number on 
 the same road going toward Warsaw. We then went back to 
 Carthage to report and what did we find. Such a sight as I hope 
 never to see again. 
 
222 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 When we saw that company going to and from Carthage my 
 suspicions was arroused that all was not right. Afterwards my 
 suspicions was strengthened from the fact that a guard of the 
 "Carthage Greys" a part of a Millitary company had been left 
 in charge of the accused to protect and kepe them safe, whose 
 sworn duty it was to protect their prisoner as well as it was to keep 
 him from running off. They were there I don't know just how 
 many. I think from six to ten men on guard when the mob came 
 rushing on them, they fired blank cartridges over the heads of 
 the mob as I afterwards learned from some one of the guard. My 
 impresion is that they were equal guilty as any one of the mob. 
 Excuse me for calling the murders of the Smith a mob. I think 
 that is the right name to call them, though I believe I do not know 
 if that you had an uncle in the affair. Well after the brave guards 
 had fired their blank carheridge on the mob as I was taken prison- 
 ers, the mob rushed up stairs to where the Smiths Taylor and 
 Richards were enjoying themselves. Some said they were sip- 
 ping their wine whether that is true or not I do not know. At any 
 rate they were comfortably situated, and they had a right to sup- 
 pose safely protected by the laws of the great state of Illinois. 
 
 When the false guard had made their hypocritical assault 
 on the other part of the mob (I look upon them as being equally 
 guilty as those that came from Warsaw.) They the attacking 
 party rushed up stairs with murder in their hearts to where the 
 accused were tryed to break open the door which it appears was 
 held shut by all four of the men when the mob commenced firing 
 their loaded arms through the door. It appears that one of the 
 balls in the commencement of the attac pased through a panel 
 of the door and hit Hyrum in his neck which probably broke his 
 neck he fell back and died, as I was informed instantly. When I 
 went into the room shortly afterwards his head was laying against 
 the wall on the other sid from the door. 
 
 It is supposed when Hyrum fell the door was partially opened 
 by the attacking party, so much so at any rate that I was in- 
 formed that Jo Smith had what was common then what was and 
 probable is now called one of Steves peper boxes. It is said and 
 there is no dout but what it is true that he sliped his hand through 
 the opening of the door and hit a young man from Warsaw about 
 his neck or sholder which made it conveinent for the young man 
 to remain for a while in Missouri. The attacing party forced the 
 door open and commenced firing at Smith it is said they must 
 have hit him an probably disabled him, as he stagered across the 
 floor to the oposite side of the room where there was a window. 
 It is said that there he gave the hailing sign of the distress of a 
 Mason but that did him no good. In the room behind him was 
 armed men, furious men, with murder in their hearts. Before 
 him arround the well under the window there was a croud of des- 
 perate men, as he was receiving shots from behind which he could 
 not stand, in despersation he leaped or rather fell out of the win- 
 dow near the well where he breathed his last. When I found him 
 soon afterwards he was laying in the hall at the foot of the stairs 
 where his blood had as I believe left indelible stain on the floor. 
 
THE MARTYRDOM 223 
 
 I suppose by this time you are anxious to know what became 
 of Taylor and Richards; was they also killed, no they were not. 
 Taylor was severely wounded Richards was not hurt. Shall I try 
 to describe the wounds that Taylor received and got over them. 
 Well let me tell you where we found him, I cannot impress your 
 mind of his appearance as he appered to us when we wer called 
 to him by the jailor. We found him in a pile of straw. It appeared 
 that a straw bed had been emtied in the cell where he was when 
 we found him. He was very much frightened as well as severly 
 wounded. It took strong persuading of the jailor as well as our 
 positive assuriance that we ment him no harm but Was desirous 
 of doing him some good. He finally consented to come out of his 
 cell. When we examined him we found that he had been hit by 
 four balls. One ball had hit him in his fore arm and pased down 
 and lodged in the hand betwen the phalanges of his third and 
 fourth fingers. Another hit on the left side of the pelvis cuttin 
 
 through the skin and pasin leaving a superficial wound 
 
 that you could lay your hand in. A third ball passed through his 
 thigh lodging in his notus. A fourth ball hit his watch which he 
 had in the fob in his pantaloons, which I suppose the Mormons 
 have today, to show the precise time that their great leader was 
 killed. The wounds had bled quite freely, the blood had had time 
 to coagulate which it had done, and where the clothes and straw 
 came in contact they all adhered together so that Mr. Taylor came 
 out his self sought cell he was a pitable looking sight. We took 
 the best care of him we could till he left us. He got well but never 
 paid us for skill or good wishes. 
 
 You want to know what has become of Richards. He was not 
 hurt. You will ask how did it happen that his comrads (were) 
 so badly treated and he came off without receiving any damage 
 whatever. It was in this way, as I suppose I think he told me so. 
 The four braced themselves against the door to keep the mob out. 
 He stood next to the hinges of the door so when the door opened 
 it would turn back against the wall that divided the room that 
 they were in from the prison room. So when they crowded the 
 door open it shut him up against the wall and he stood there and 
 did not move till the affair was all over, so they did not see him. 
 
 After we were through with Taylor I went to Richards and 
 said to him Richards what does all this mean who done it. Said 
 he, doctor I do not know, but I belive it was some Missourians 
 that came over and have killed brothers Josef and Hyrum and 
 wounded bro Taylor. Said I to him do you believe that, he said 
 I do. Says I, will you write that down and send it to Nauvoo. He 
 said he would if he could get any person to take it. I told him if 
 he would write it I would send it. He wrote the note, I found the 
 man that took it to Nauvoo. 
 
 Shall I tell you any more. 
 
 November 6, 1897 
 
 Your father Thomas L. Barnes. 
 
224 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 THE ASSASSINATION OF 
 GENERALS JOSEPH SMITH AND HYRUM SMITH 
 
 By Eliza R. Snow— 1873 
 
 Ye heavens, attend ! Let all the earth give ear ! 
 Let Gods and seraphs, men and angels hear: 
 The worlds on high — the Universe, shall know 
 What awful scenes are acted here below! 
 
 Had nature's self a heart, her heart would bleed 
 
 At the recital of so foul a deed; 
 
 For never, since the Son of God was slain, 
 
 Has blood so noble flowed from human vein, 
 
 As that which now on God for vengeance calls 
 
 From Freedom's ground — from Carthage prison walls! 
 
 Oh, Illinois; thy soil has drunk the blood 
 Of prophets, martyr'd for the truth of God. 
 Once-lov'd America! what can atone 
 For the pure blood of innocence thou'st sown? 
 Where all the streams, in teary torrents shed 
 To mourn the fate of those illustrious dead, 
 How vain the tribute for the noblest worth 
 That graced thy surface, degraded earth! 
 Oh, wretched murderers, fierce for human blood! 
 You've slain the Prophets of the living God, 
 Who've borne oppression from their early youth, 
 To plant on earth the principles of truth 
 
 Shades of our patriot fathers! can it be, 
 Beneath your blood-stained flag of Liberty, 
 The firm supporters of our country's cause, 
 Are butcher'd while submission to her laws? 
 Yes, blameless men, defamed by hellish lie, 
 Have thus been offer'd as a sacrifice 
 To appease the ragings of a brutish clan 
 That has defiled the laws of God and man! 
 'Twas not for crime or guilt of theirs they fell: 
 Against the laws they never did rebel. 
 True to their country, yet her plighted faith 
 Has prov'd an instrument of cruel death! 
 
 Great men have fallen, mighty men have died 
 
 Nations have mourn'd their fav'rites and their pride; 
 
 But two so wise, so virtuous, and so good, 
 
 Before, on earth, at once, have never stood 
 
 Since the creation — men whom God ordain'd 
 
 To publish truth when error long had reign'd ; 
 
 Of whom the world itself unworthy prov'd; 
 
 It knetu them not; but men with hatred mov'd 
 
 And with infernal spirits, have combin'd 
 
 Against the best, the noblest of mankind! 
 
THE MARTYRDOM 225 
 
 Oh, persecution! shall thy purple hand 
 Spread utter desolation through the land? 
 Shall Freedom's banner be no more unfurled? 
 Has peace indeed been taken from the world? 
 Then God of Jacob, in this trying hour 
 Help us to trust in thy Almighty power — 
 Support thy Saints beneath this awful stroke, 
 Make bare thine arm to break oppressions' yoke. 
 
 We mourn the Prophet, from whose lips have flow'd 
 The words of life thy Spirit has bestow'd — 
 A depth of thought no human art could reach, 
 From time to time roll'd in sublimest speech, 
 From thy celestial fountain, through his mind, 
 To purify and elevate mankind; 
 The rich intelligence by him brought forth 
 Is like the sunbeams spreading o'er the earth. 
 
 Now Zion mourns — she mourns an earthly head; 
 Her Prophet and her Patriarch are dead! 
 The blackest deed that men and devils know 
 Since Calv'ry's scene, has laid the brothers low! 
 One while in life, and one in death, they prov'd 
 How strong their friendship — how true they loved; 
 True to their mission until death they stood, 
 Then seal'd their testimony with their blood. 
 
 All hearts with sorrow bleed, and every eye 
 Is bath'd in tears, each bosom heaves a sigh, 
 Heart-broken widows' agonizing groans 
 Are mingled with the helpless orphans' moans! 
 Ye Saints! be still, and know that God is just 
 With steadfast purpose in His promise trust; 
 Girded with sackcloth, own His mighty hand, 
 And wait His Judgments on this guilty land! 
 The noble Martyrs now have gone to move 
 The cause of Zion in the Courts above. 
 
CHAPTER 10 
 
 The Prophet's Body Not Permitted 
 to be Mutilated 
 
 TESTIMONY OF WILLIAM M. DANIELS 
 
 He (Joseph the Prophet) seemed to fall easy. He struck 
 partly on his right shoulder and back, his neck and head reaching 
 the ground a little before his feet. He rolled instantly on his face. 
 From this position he was taken by a young man, who sprang to 
 him from the other side of the fence, who held a pewter fife in his 
 hand, was barefoot and bare-headed, having on no coat, with his 
 pants rolled above his knees and shirt-sleeves above his elbows. 
 He set President Smith against the south side of the well-curb, 
 that was situated a few feet from the jail. While doing this, the 
 savage muttered aloud : "This is Old Jo ; I know him. I know you, 
 Old Jo. Damn you, you are the man that had my daddy shot." **** 
 
 When President Smith had been set against the curb, and 
 began to recover from the effects of the fall, Col. Williams ordered 
 four men to shoot him. Accordingly, four men took an eastern 
 direction, about eight feet from the curb, Col. Williams standing 
 partly at their rear, and made ready to execute the order. While 
 they were making preparations, and the muskets were raised to 
 their faces, President Smith's eyes rested upon them with a calm 
 and quiet resignation. He betrayed no agitated feelings and the 
 expression upon his countenance seemed to betoken his only prayer 
 to be : "O, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." 
 
 The fire was simultaneous. A slight cringe of the body was 
 all the indication of pain that he betrayed when the balls struck 
 him. He fell upon his face. One ball had entered the back part of 
 his body. This is the ball that many people have supposed struck 
 him about the time he was in the window. But this is a mistake. 
 I was close by him, and I know he was not hit with a ball until 
 after he was seated by the well-curb.**** 
 
 The ruffian, of whom I have spoken, who set him against the 
 well-curb, now secured a bowie knife for the purpose of severing 
 his head from his body. He raised the knife and was in the atti- 
 tude of striking, when a light, so sudden and powerful, burst from 
 the heavens upon the bloody scene, (passing its vivid chain between 
 Joseph and his murderers.) that they were struck with terrified 
 awe and filled with consternation. This light, in its appearance and 
 potency, baffles all powers of description. The arm of the ruffian, 
 that held the knife, fell powerless; the muskets of the four, who 
 fired, fell to the ground, and they all stood like marble statues, not 
 having power to move a single limb of their bodies. 
 
 By this time most of the men had fled in great disorder. I 
 never saw so frightened a set of men before. Col. Williams saw the 
 
JOSEPH'S BODY NOT PERMITTED TO BE MUTILATED 227 
 
 light and was also badly frightened; but he did not entirely lose 
 the use of his limbs or speech. Seeing the condition of these men 
 he hallowed to some who had just commenced to retreat, for God's 
 sake to come and carry off these men. They came back and carried 
 them by main strength towards the baggage wagons. They seemed 
 as helpless as if they were dead. The Martyrs, pp. 79-81. 
 
 STATEMENT OF MRS. ELIZA MORGAN 
 
 My father Jacob Hofheins was born on December 4, 1812, in 
 Baden, Germany. He emigrated to America in 1830 and joined 
 the Mormon Church in 1835. He was a bodyguard of the Prophet 
 Joseph Smith in the days of Nauvoo, and was present at the martyr- 
 dom of the Prophet at Carthage, Illinois. / have heard him speak 
 many times of the cruelty of the mobbers and have heard him state 
 many times of the light that struck the fiend who raised his arm to 
 cut off the head of the Prophet, the fiend's hand tvas paralyzed and 
 fell to his side. He saw the Prophet as he fell or leaped from the 
 window of the Carthage jail and saw the mob set him against the 
 well. My father stated emphatically and positively that he saw 
 this. In 1846 he joined the Mormon Battalion. He witnessed the 
 great mourning by the entire people, men, women and children, 
 in Nauvoo, at the death of the Prophet Joseph Smith and Hyrum 
 Smith his brother. 
 
 To all of the above statements, I solemnly testify I heard my 
 father relate to me. 
 
 Signed : Mrs. Eliza Morgan 
 
 Signed in the presence of: 
 
 Mrs. Nina Garrett Morgan 
 
 N. B. Lundwall 
 
 at Levan, Utah, this 30th day of July, 1951. 
 
 HISTORY BY GEORGE Q. CANNON 
 
 Among the murderers outside was a man, barefoot and bare- 
 headed, without a coat, his shirt-sleeves rolled up above his elbows 
 and his pants above his knees; he lifted Joseph and propped him 
 against the south side of the well curb which stood a few feet from 
 the jail. Colonel Levi Williams then ordered four men to shoot 
 him. They stood about eight feet from the curb, and fired simul- 
 taneously. A slight cringe of the body was noticed as the balls struck 
 him, and he fell on his face. The ruffian who set him against the 
 well-curb, then took a boivie-knife, with the evident intention of 
 cutting off his head. It tvas reported that a considerable sum of 
 money had been offered, by the mob, for his head. As he raised the 
 knife, and was in the attitude of striking, a light, so sudden and 
 powerful, burst from the heavens upon the bloody scene, (passing 
 its vivid chain between Joseph and his murderers) that they were 
 struck with terror. The arm of the ruffian that held the knife, fell 
 powerless; the muskets of the four who fired fell to the ground, and 
 
228 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 they all stood like marble statues, not having the power to move a 
 single limb of their bodies. 
 
 As Joseph fell from the window, the cry was raised, "He has 
 leaped the ivindow," and the mob on the stairs and in the entry ran 
 out as soon as they could. After shooting him, the murderers hur- 
 ried off in a disorderly manner as fast as they could. Colonel Wil- 
 liams shouted to some who had just commenced their retreat, to 
 come back and help to carry off the four men who fired, who were 
 still paralyzed. They came and carried them away by main strength 
 to the baggage wagons, and they all fled toward Warsaw. 
 
 Life of Joseph the Prophet, by George Q. Cannon, Instructor, 15:110-11. 
 
 AN OFFICER OF ILLINOIS MILITIA TESTIFIES 
 
 "Wm. T. Head, an officer in Captain Lawn's company, and 
 tarrying in Carthage, testified that he saw a certain man raise a 
 large knife to strike off the head of Joseph, when, all at once, and in 
 the midst of a clear day, with no cloud in sight, ( a terrible clap of 
 thunder rolled heavily, and forked lightning flashed in the face of 
 the murderers, and perfectly paralyzed a number of them.' 
 
 "The ruffian, who had raised his knife and had sworn with a 
 dreadful oath to take the head off Joseph, stood perfectly paralyzed, 
 his arm uplifted with the knife suspended in air, and could not 
 move a limb. His comrades carried him off, and all fled in terror 
 from the scene." Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt, p. 477. 
 
 HISTORIAN EDW. W. TULLIDGE'S DECLARATIONS 
 
 From the point where Joseph leaped the window, the record 
 continues : "He fell partly on his right shoulder and back, his neck 
 and head reaching the ground a little before his feet, and he rolled 
 instantly on his face. 
 
 "From this position he ivas taken by a man tuho was barefoot 
 and bareheaded, and having on no coat, his pants rolled up above 
 his knees, and his shirt sleeves above his elbows. He set Joseph 
 against the south side of the well-curb, ivhich was situated a few 
 feet from the jail, when Col. Levi Williams ordered four men to 
 shoot him. They stood about eight feet from the curb, and fired 
 simultaneously. A slight cringe of the body ivas all the indication 
 of pain visible when the balls struck him, and he fell on his face. 
 The ruffian ivho set him against the well-curb now gathered a bowie- 
 knife for the purpose of severing his head from his body. He 
 raised the knife, and was in the attitude of striking when a light, 
 so sudden and poiverful, burst from the heavens upon the bloody 
 scene {passing its vivid chain between Joseph and his murderers) , 
 that they were struck with terror. This light, in its appearance and 
 potency baffles all poivers of description. The arm of the ruffian 
 that held the knife fell powerless, the muskets of the four tvho 
 fired fell to the ground, and they all stood like marble statues, not 
 having the power to move a single limb of their bodies. 
 
 "The retreat of the mob was so hurried and disorderly as it 
 possibly could have been. Colonel Williams hallowed to some who 
 
JOSEPH'S BODY NOT PERMITTED TO BE MUTILATED 229 
 
 had just commenced their retreat to come back and help to carry 
 off the four men who fired, and who were still paralyzed. They 
 came and carried them away by main strength to the baggage 
 wagons, when they fled towards Warsaw." 
 
 Upon the tide of grief that swept over Nauvoo, and the con- 
 sternation that filled the hearts of the mob, when the awful deed 
 became known, we will not dwell. Neither will we attempt to de- 
 pict that scene of woe which occurred when the bodies of the slain 
 were delivered into the hands of their families. A whole people 
 had been cruelly, fiendishly betrayed and bereaved. Awful, beyond 
 the power of words to picture, was the lament. 
 
 Today some of that very mob remain in peace near the scene 
 of that atrocious crime, unwhipped of justice, and not one of that 
 horde of assassins has ever felt the lash of the law. 
 
 Thus lived, and labored, and loved, and died the martyr 
 prophet of the nineteenth century. Thus flashed athwart the black 
 midnight of his age the light of the latter-days. But the darkness 
 comprehended it not; and even as one of old was he betrayed and 
 sacrificed. 
 
 Back to that scene on Calvary leaps the thought of man. In- 
 stinctively are associated the tragedy of that day and the tragedy 
 of this. Across the ages stride the footsteps of the self -same genius. 
 In the agony of death appears the self -same spirit. Nay, from out 
 the agony of Calvary and of Carthage comes the self -same voice: 
 "Lama Sabacthana !"— "Oh, Lord my God!" 
 
 Life of Joseph the Prophet, by Edw. W. Tuliidge, pp. 543-45. 
 
 ONE OF THE MOB TESTIFIES 
 
 (Note: The Compiler of this book was employed as Forest Clerk 
 on the Gallatin National Forest, Bozeman, Montana, from 1910 to 
 1916. The Bozeman Daily Chronicle published a news item under 
 the date of Jan. 3, 1915, from Clyde Park, Montana, (a town or 
 settlement some 60 miles from Bozeman) which gave the account 
 of an elderly lady who was 100 years of age which verbatim is as 
 follows : "Within a few miles of Clyde Park there lives a woman who 
 has but recently celebrated her 100th birthday — Mrs. Sulvia Whit- 
 mar, who lives with her daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Don 
 Gurule, on a ranch on Fall Creek, in the foothills of the Crazy 
 mountains. According to Mr. Gurule, Mrs. Whitmar was born in 
 Illinois on November 15, 1814, and on the 15th of last month was 
 100 years old, and is still as spry and hearty as are many women 
 40 years her junior. She does a share of the work about the house 
 and assists in caring for the nine children of her daughter, and 
 insists that she is not an old woman, as the term is generally under- 
 stood. Mrs. Whitmar declares she knew Abraham Lincoln person- 
 ally and well in the early days of Illinois, and tells many interesting 
 stories of the early days in the "western" life of that state. She was 
 also a personal friend of the great Mormon prophet, Joseph Smith, 
 and was a spectator in the crowd when the illustrious Mormon met 
 his tragic death at the hands of a mob at Nauvoo, 111. She insists 
 that she is still good for many years, altho some six weeks past the 
 century mark." 
 
 I immediately wrote to Mrs. Whitmar and requested her to give 
 to me in detail all she knew in regard to Joseph Smith and his 
 martyrdom, (copies of all letters being in the files of the compiler.) 
 
 I quote but a portion of her letter as follows: (verbatim) 
 
230 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 "The day Joseph Smith ivas killed the teamsters was com- 
 ing from Carthage, and stoped at grandfather Elsworth's house. 
 And some of them ivas laughting about the deth of the profit. But 
 one of the fellotus spoke and said if you saiv ivat I saw you would 
 not laugh so much about it, and then he said, I saw a light come 
 from the jail where Joseph Smith ivas shot and went from the 
 jail into the heavens." 
 
 STEPHEN MARKHAM TESTIFIES 
 
 Bro. N. B. Lundwall, Jensen, Utah, Dec. 31, 1938 
 
 Salt Lake City, Utah. 
 
 Dear Brother: 
 
 I have been some time getting started to write a few lines 
 regarding the testimony given to me by my mother concerning the 
 martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph and his brother Hyrum. Grand- 
 father Stephen Markham was with the Prophet in Carthage jail. 
 Just before the shooting he left the jail to get some medicine for 
 Brother Taylor, I believe it was. There were seven of the mob 
 went with him. They had gone but a short distance when the 
 fatal shots were fired. Grandfather turned his horse to go back 
 and the men that were with him guarding him for fear he would 
 get away, stuck their bayonets in his legs till the blood filled his 
 boots and ran to the ground. He testified that there was a light 
 descended from heaven and fell upon the man who made the at- 
 tempt to cut off the Prophet's head and that he fell to the ground. 
 
 My mother was Stephen Markham's oldest daughter, Mary 
 Lucy Markham. 
 
 I hope this will be of some value to you. Am glad of having 
 met you and appreciate your acquaintance. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 Joseph S. Dudley 
 Jensen, Utah, P.O. Box 71 
 
 AFFIDAVIT OF CHARLES D. FOSTER 
 
 I, Charles Daniel Foster, testify as follows: 
 
 I was born on January 5, 1878, in Sunset, Arizona, my father's 
 name being Charles Allen Foster and my mother Josephine Mor- 
 ris Foster. My father was well acquainted with the Prophet Jo- 
 seph Smith, which acquaintance lasted several years prior to the 
 martyrdom of the Prophet. He was present in Nauvoo when the 
 Prophet made the statement "I am going as a lamb to the slaugh- 
 ter." I have heard father state several times that he was present 
 on the ground when the Prophet was murdered and saw the mob 
 drag his body from under the Carthage jail window after he was 
 shot and saw members of the mob set the body of the Prophet 
 against the well. The leader of the mob asked the others "who 
 will cut his head of?" to which two of the mob stated, "I will cut 
 off his G — d d — head." One of the two raised his sword with the 
 
JOSEPH'S BODY NOT PERMITTED TO BE MUTILATED 231 
 
 intention of cutting off the head of the Prophet, when a flash of 
 lightning from the heavens struck them both senseless. The mob 
 then fled and left the bodies of the two lying on the ground. To 
 all of the above statements, I solemnly testify my father related 
 to me. Signed : Charles D. Foster 
 
 As witnesses to the above signature we attach our signatures : 
 
 Lavora Foster 
 Earl Foster 
 N. B. Lundwall 
 Dated at Eden, Arizona, March 8, 1950. 
 
 CYRUS WHEELOCK KNEW THE LIGHTNING FLASH 
 
 Note: While at the home of Mrs. Allred, in Spring City, Utah, on 
 August 8, 1951, conversing on the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph 
 Smith, Mrs. Allred dictated the following statement. 
 
 I was born on February 15, 1865, in Spring City, Utah. I 
 was well acquainted with Cyrus Wheelock who lived at Mt. Pleas- 
 ant, Utah. I have heard Cyrus Wheelock and Orson Hyde in con- 
 versation many times, as they would reminisce on their acquaint- 
 ances and association with the Prophet Joseph Smith. I have heard 
 Brother Wheelock state many times how he was with the Prophet, 
 his duties as a body guard of the Prophet, and of the light that 
 came from the heavens when the mobocrat was making ready as 
 his arm was raised to cut off the head of the Prophet, and how the 
 arm of the mobocrat fell to his side paralyzed. He saw the mob 
 flee in confusion after the martyrdom. 
 
 In witness of the truthfulness of the above statements, I here- 
 unto sign my name, on this 8th day of August, 1951. 
 
 Signed: Maria J. Allred 
 Witness : N. B. Lundwall 
 
 THE FATAL 27th OF JUNE 
 
 (Excerpts) 
 
 Shortly after five o'clock a noise outside was heard, a cry of 
 surrender, a few musket shots and then a tumult. As planned, the 
 disbanded militia had organized and with faces blackened with 
 powder and mud came up against the jail, two hundred strong. 
 The guard feigned resistance by shooting over their heads. They 
 stormed the prison, some fired from the yard through the windows, 
 and others rushed up the stairs to break into the room. The four 
 men threw themselves against the door, but failed to hold it closed. 
 Guns were thrust in and discharged. A stream of bullets from 
 different directions came pouring into the room. 
 
 Hyrum was the first victim. One ball from the door struck 
 him in the face and he lurched back saying, "I am a dead man." An- 
 other from the window pierced him as he fell, and two more took 
 effect after he reached the floor. John Taylor, unable to hold the 
 door, ran across the room. A bullet from the doorway struck him 
 
232 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 in the thigh, and its force would have driven his falling body 
 through the open window, but another ball from outside struck 
 his watch and without wounding him cast his body back into the 
 room. Three more struck him as he lay helpless on the floor. Wil- 
 lard Richards, save a slight wound in the ear, was unhurt. 
 
 Up to this time Joseph had not been struck, but he realized 
 he had not long to live. With the same motive that had drawn him 
 from Nauvoo, he sprang to the window, willing to die quickly and 
 thus save his two living brethren. He did not need to jump to the 
 ground, however; two bullets from the door and one from below 
 struck him simultaneously. He fell down at the feet of his mur- 
 derers with the death cry, "0 Lord, my God !" 
 
 All the assassins rushed from the jail; the body was set up 
 against a well curb, and Colonel Levi Williams ordered four men to 
 shoot it. A scantily clothed brutal fellow, coveting the money that 
 had been offered by the Missourians for the Prophet's head, rushed 
 forward with a knife in his hand to gain his trophy. Suddenly a 
 shaft of light from heaven fell down and paralyzed the nearest of 
 the murderers. The rabble and the soldiers ran away in terror, but 
 Williams cried to them for help. Some came back and lifted the help- 
 less bodies of their comrades into a wagon. Then the mob together 
 with nearly all of the inhabitants of Carthage fled from the cursed 
 place. 
 
 For Willard Richards it remained to care for the living and 
 the dead. John Taylor, desperately wounded, was hidden by him 
 in an inner dungeon, and Willard spent the night in watching over 
 the precious remains of the martyrs. Next day he took them to 
 Nauvoo, and the mourning Saints met him on the way. Thousands 
 viewed the familiar features of the two beloved men and wept as 
 they saw them, fallen in the glory of their manhood. Loving hands 
 buried the Prophets secretly and at night, that no unhallowed hands 
 should disturb the sleeping dust. 
 
 The mob had fulfilled their threat. They could not reach these 
 men with the law, but they did it with power and ball. In the 
 middle of the nineteenth century Joseph and Hyrum Smith, Proph- 
 ets of God, died martyrs for the name of Jesus Christ, but as Joseph 
 declared, so it shall be: their blood shall cry from the ground for 
 
 vengeance. Millennial Star, Vol. 64:411-14. 
 
 TESTIMONY OF ORVILLE ALLEN 
 
 (Given on the 22nd day of January, 1952, 
 at Thatcher, Arizona.) 
 
 I was born on the 21st day of May, 1881, at Taylor, Arizona, 
 my parents being Orville Morgan Allen and Diana J. Allen. I was 
 called on a mission to the Central States on the 6th of April, 1905, 
 and was sent from the headquarters of the mission at Independence, 
 Missouri, to Morgan City, Louisiana, by President S. 0. Bennion 
 who was then president of that mission. My companion at the 
 time this narrative deals was Elder Church from Salt Lake City. 
 We labored under the district presidency of Elder Leavitt, in the 
 
JOSEPH'S BODY NOT PERMITTED TO BE MUTILATED 233 
 
 vicinity of Morgan City and Swevers Port, La. When traveling 
 without purse or script to conference which was held at Kelsey, 
 Texas, we met two old men, 82 and 84 years of age, who were broth- 
 ers, whose names I wrote in my diary which was later lost. These 
 men lived in the Red Hills of Louisiana, between the two localities 
 mentioned. Neither of them had married and lived alone in the 
 jungles or timbered country. 
 
 They testified that they were present at the time of the martyr- 
 dom of the Prophet Joseph Smith and were with their people in 
 the mob of from 200 to 250 men. They told us that as they went 
 around the jail to see what was going on, they saw the Prophet 
 Joseph against the well-curb after he had been shot, and they 
 saw a man take the Prophet by the hair of his head with a drawn 
 sword in his other hand. There was a reward of $1,000.00 for 
 the Prophet's head. He raised his sword to strike off the head of 
 Joseph Smith when a flash of lightning from the heavens was seen, 
 the day being bright with no clouds. This so frightened them and 
 the rest of the mob who saw it that they all fled for fear. These 
 two young men (for they were in the neighborhood of twenty 
 years of age) looked back after running a short distance and saw 
 the man whose arm was still raised with the sword in his hand. 
 They continued to travel as fast as they could, anxious to get away 
 from the scene of the murder but the fear remained with them up 
 to the time of our visit with them. They settled in the locality 
 where we found them and still feared the divine punishment that 
 they expected to receive after death, and they asked Elder Church 
 what they should do about it to take away that fear. He told them 
 that they would have to settle it with their God. They feared to 
 die and testified that they had taken part with the mob in killing 
 Joseph Smith and were in full accord with the mob in doing so but 
 after seeing this flash of lightning fear came upon them which was 
 not lessened or removed. 
 
 They had seen Elders passing but had never conversed with 
 them and had purposely avoided meeting them. My companion and 
 I passed through the woods and happened to come onto their home. 
 They knew who we were and seemed relieved at meeting us and 
 asked us to return again if we should happen to pass that way but 
 we never returned. They seemed to be very humble after talking 
 to us. They said they knew the mob had killed a man of God be- 
 cause of the fear that always existed in their hearts since the mar- 
 tyrdom. The above incident was one of the strongest testimonies I 
 received concerning the divinity of the mission of Joseph Smith 
 the Prophet, my entire mission being one of many wonderful ex- 
 periences in the Southern states, while on this mission. 
 
 Signed : Orville Allen 
 
 In Witness Whereof I hereunto sign my name 
 and affirm my statement to be true. 
 
 Signed in the presence of N. B. Lundwall 
 
 Orvil Larson 
 
 See Addenda "B" 
 
CHAPTER 11 
 
 Comments of Friends and Foes 
 On the Martyrdom 
 
 LETTER OF INSTRUCTION AND INFORMATION 
 TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE BRITISH MISSION 
 
 (Excerpts) 
 
 Nauvoo, Illinois, U. S , 
 July 9th, 1844. " 
 
 Elder Reuben Hedlock, Presiding Elder of the Church of Jesus 
 Christ in England, and the Saints in the British Empire. 
 
 Beloved brethren, we say to you all, as we say to the saints 
 here, be still and know that God reigns. This is one of those fiery 
 trials that is to try the saints in the last days. * * * 
 
 These servants of God have gone to heaven by fire — the fire of 
 an ungodly mob. Like the Prophets of ancient days they lived as 
 long as the world would receive them; and this is one furnace in 
 which the saints were to be tried, to have their leaders cut off from 
 their midst, and not be permitted to avenge their blood. 
 
 God has said, "Vengeance is mine ; I have not called mine elders 
 to fight their battles; I will fight their battle for them;" and we 
 know, assuredly, that he will do it in his own due time, and we have 
 only to wait in patience and pray for the fulfilment of the promise. 
 
 This event is one of the most foul and damnable that ever 
 disgraced the earth, having no parallel in time. Innocent men im- 
 prisoned without law, without justice, and murdered in cold blood 
 in the enlightened nineteenth century, in an enlightened country 
 in open daylight. 
 
 It will call down the wrath and indignation of all nations upon 
 the perpetrators of the horrid deed, and will prove the truth of the 
 saying, "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church." They 
 died for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. 
 
 God has not left his church without witnesses; as in former 
 days, so shall it be in the latter days, when one falls another will 
 arise to occupy a similar station. Our heavenly Father always has 
 had a leader to his people, always will have, and the gates of hell 
 can never prevail against the chosen of heaven. 
 
 The murder of Joseph will not stop the work ; it will not stop 
 the Temple; it will not stop the gathering; it will not stop the 
 honest-in-heart from believing the truth and obeying it; but it is 
 a proof of the revelations we have received from heaven through 
 him. He has sealed his testimony with his blood. He was willing 
 to die, and desired only to live for the sake of the brethren. 
 
 Two better men than Joseph and Hyrum Smith never lived. 
 
COMMENTS OF FRIENDS AND FOES ON THE MARTYRDOM 235 
 
 Two better men God never made. The memorial of their godly 
 lives is embalmed, printed with indelible ink in the memory of 
 every honest heart who knew their upright walk and conversation ; 
 but they are taken away by the hands of assassins, and of the fool- 
 ish things of the earth God will raise up others to comfort and lead 
 his people, and not one item of his word can fail. 
 
 Jerusalem must be rebuilt and Zion must be redeemed, the 
 earth be cleansed from blood by fire, Jesus return to his own, and 
 all who shall continue faithful unto the end shall rest in everlasting 
 peace and blessedness. 
 
 We alone, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, are here at 
 this time to write to you, the remaining ten are in the eastern 
 states preaching the gospel, and we expect them soon to return; 
 and as soon as God will, we will write you again. 
 
 Proceed onward with all your labors as though nothing had 
 happened, only, preach Joseph martyred for his religion, instead of 
 living, and God will pour out his Spirit upon you, and hasten his 
 work from this time. 
 
 Believe not every spirit, but try the spirits ; believe not every 
 report, for every false rumor that men and demons can invent is 
 set afloat to gull the world. What we have told you by letter and 
 papers is true, but time will not permit to tell you every particular 
 now. 
 
 Be humble, prayerful, watchful, and let not the adversary get 
 any advantage of one of you, and may the choicest blessings of 
 Israel's God rest upon you and abide with you, that you may en- 
 dure faithful in all tribulation and affliction, and be prepared to 
 be gathered unto Mount Zion, and enter into celestial glory, is the 
 earnest prayer of your brethren in the new and everlasting cove- 
 nant. Amen. [Signed] Willard Richards, 
 
 John Taylor. 
 
 D.H. C. 7:174-75. 
 
 REFLECTIONS ON THE MARTYRDOM 
 
 By Ben E. Rich 
 
 Sixty-two years ago, on the 27th of June, just passed, the 
 Prophet Joseph and his brother Hyrum the Patriarch, were mar- 
 tyred at Carthage, 111. Both of these valiant men had received the 
 revelations of God; both had believed and obeyed His word; both 
 were advocates of the Father and ministers of His divine truth; 
 both declared no doctrine save that which a Christian nation pro- 
 fessed already to believe, and which that sacred volume, the Word 
 of God, so clearly defines ; both were peaceable, law-abiding men — 
 men of honesty — men of honor — men of integrity — men of God! 
 Both were hated, despised, and abused, not because they were 
 violators of law, but purely because they came in the name of the 
 Lord, filled with His Spirit which discerns the wickedness in the 
 hearts of men and rebukes them for their transgression — because 
 they came with the authority from God to establish His Church in 
 the earth — that Church which Satan has always opposed and so 
 
236 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 vigorously fought whenever it has been upon the earth ; both were 
 in a Christian land; both were citizens of the United States; and 
 yet notwithstanding all this, both were murdered in cold blood at 
 the hands of professed followers of Christ who trampled the Con- 
 stitution of the United States under their feet in order that the 
 insatiable cravings of their depraved hearts for the blood of inno- 
 cent men might be gratified. 
 
 But that even has passed now and is buried beneath the weight 
 of sixty-two years ; and in recalling it at the present time we do so, 
 not because of any spirit of revenge harbored within our breasts, 
 for vengeance belongs to the Lord and He will repay, but because 
 the memories of these divinely inspired men are dear to the hearts 
 of every Latter-day Saint, and because their pains of intense suffer- 
 ing unjustly and cruelly inflicted upon their bodies because of their 
 love for the truth, are forced upon our minds when the anniversary 
 of the day on which they gave their lives for the cause of righteous- 
 ness comes and goes. * * * 
 
 He stands at the head of this dispensation, and some day when 
 the veil of darkness is lifted from the eyes of the world and they 
 are able to see and comprehend the things of God in their true 
 relationship they will then know that June the 27th, 1844, marks 
 the day of the martyrdom of two of God's holy prophets, Joseph 
 Smith, who opened up the greatest of all dispensations on the 
 earth since the world began, and Hyrum the Patriarch, his devoted 
 
 and self-sacrificing brother. Elders Journal, July 1, 1906. 
 
 ATTITUDE OF SAINTS AFTER MARTYRDOM 
 
 Letter from Willard Richards to Brigham Young — Nauvoo 
 Affairs, Including The Martyrdom 
 
 (Excerpt) 
 
 Nauvoo, Sunday, June 30, 1844, 
 6 p.m. 
 The saints have entered into covenants of peace with the gover- 
 nor and government officers, not to avenge the blood of the martyrs, 
 but leave it with the executive, who had pledged the faith of the 
 state for their safe-keeping. The elders cannot be too careful in 
 all the world, to keep from saying anything to irritate and vex the 
 governor, etc., for at present we must conciliate : it is for our sal- 
 vation. The governor has appeared to act with honest intentions; 
 we bring no charge against him — will wait patiently his proceed- 
 ings in the matter. Let the elders keep cool, vengeance rests in 
 heaven. — Yours as ever, Willard Richards. 
 
 JOSEPH HAD SUFFERED ENOUGH 
 
 By Brigham Young 
 
 He (Brigham Young) then referred to the Missourians when 
 Joseph and others went to jail, snapping their guns at the brethren 
 but they would not go off. The Lord never let a prophet fall on the 
 
COMMENTS OF FRIENDS AND FOES ON THE MARTYRDOM 237 
 
 earth until he had accomplished his work; and the Lord did not 
 take Joseph until he had finished his work, and it is the greatest 
 blessing to Joseph and Hyrum God could bestow to take them 
 away, for they had suffered enough. They are not the only martyrs 
 that will have to die for the truth. There are men before me today 
 who will be martyrs and who will have to seal their testimony with 
 their blood. D. H. C. 7:302. 
 
 STORY OF THE MARTYRDOM AS GIVEN BY 
 TWO MODERN PRIESTS OF BAAL 
 
 We, by accident, the other day, stumbled on a number of the 
 Jonesborough Whig, dated July 24, 1844. The editor, the Rev. 
 William G. Brownlow, is of the true stripe on Mormonism, as the 
 following from his pen will demonstrate : 
 
 Death of Joe Smith — Some of the public Journals of the coun- 
 try, we are sorry to see, regret the death of Joe Smith, the Mormon 
 Prophet. Our deliberate judgment is, that he ought to have been 
 dead ten years ago, and that those who at length have deprived 
 him of his life, have done the cause of God, and of the country, 
 good service. 
 
 What lead to his death? This question answered properly, 
 and no one will be found to regret his death. By order of Smith and 
 his villainous Council a newspaper press was destroyed on the 10th 
 ultimo, for the reason too, that it did not advocate Mormonism. 
 This was followed by a declaration of Martial Law, and the adop- 
 tion of other arbitrary measures to the injury and annoyance of 
 other peaceable citizens. These things led to war, and Smith was 
 killed, as he should have been. THREE CHEERS to the brave com- 
 pany who shot him to pieces ! 
 
 Warsaw Signal, February 19, 1845. 
 Nauvoo the Beautiful, by E. Cecil McGavin, pp. 152-153. 
 
 The following by Alexander Campbell, the founder of the 
 Campbellite or Church of Christ. 
 
 DEATH OF J. SMITH, THE MORMON IMPOSTER. Joseph 
 Smith and his brother Hiram have been providentially cut off in 
 the midst of their diabolical career. They were most lawlessly and 
 mobocratically put to death. But the money-digger, the juggler, 
 and the founder of the Golden Bible delusion, has been hurried 
 away in the midst of his madness to his final account. "He died not 
 as a righteous man dieth." The hand of the Lord was heavy upon 
 him. An outlaw himself, God cut him off by outlaws. He requited 
 him according to his works. He was not persecuted, unless to 
 punish a traitor, a public plunderer, a marauder, be persecution! 
 The killing of Robespierre was not murder. It was the outrages 
 of the Mormons that brought upon the head of their leader the arm 
 of justice. The frenzy of a fanatic cannot make out of the affair 
 persecution. Religion or religious opinions had nothing to do with 
 it. It was neither more nor less than the assassination of one whose 
 
238 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 career was in open rebellion against God and man. Still the guilt 
 of his death lies upon those who, in violation of the laws both of 
 God and their country, despatched him without even the form of 
 a trial. Nauvoo the Beautiful, by E. Cecil McGavin, p. 153. 
 
 NEWSPAPER COMMENTS 
 
 O.S. Democrat says: 
 
 "From all the facts now before us, we regard these homicides 
 as nothing else than murder in cold blood — murder against the 
 plighted faith of the chief magistrate of Illinois — murder of a char- 
 acter so atrocious and so unjustifiable as to leave the blackest stain 
 on all its perpetrators, their aiders, abettors, and defenders." 
 
 £ £ H* £ # 
 
 From the Lee County (Iowa) Democrat' 
 
 "We also endorse the whole of the sentiments of the St. Louis 
 press, and say it was a premeditated murder, and that the offenders 
 ought to be ferreted out and dealt with according to the strict sense 
 of the law." * , * * „ 
 
 From the Illi7iois State Register : 
 
 "Joseph Smith, the Mormon Prophet, and His Brother, Hyrum. 
 Murdered in Prison." 
 
 "The following particulars of the most disgraceful and cold- 
 blooded murder ever committed in a Christian land, is copied from 
 an extra from the office of the Quincy Herald. Rumors of the 
 bloody deed reached this city several days ago, but were not be- 
 lieved until Tuesday evening, when there was no further room left 
 for doubt. Next week we will have all the particulars. Every effort 
 will be made to bring the assassins to punishment." 
 
 From the Sangamon Journal : 
 
 "Thus far our news seem to be certain. Rumor says further, 
 that on Thursday of last week, Joe Smith, Hyrum Smith and Dr. 
 Richards were shot by a mob at Carthage. We are incredulous in 
 regard to the truth of this rumor. We cannot think, under the cir- 
 cumstances of the case, the excitement against these men among 
 the anti-Mormons, Governor Ford would have received them as 
 prisoners, to be tried under our laws, had pledged himself for their 
 protection, and then placed them in a situation where they would 
 be murdered. The rumor is too preposterous for belief. We wait 
 with much anxiety to hear the truth on this subject, and this feel- 
 ing is general in this community." 
 
 H« * * * * 
 
 From the Missouri Republican : 
 
 "The Murders at Carthage: — A letter from the editor, one 
 from G. T. M. Davis, Esq., and a proclamation from Governor Ford, 
 give all the information which we have been able to collect from 
 the seat of civil commotion and murder in Illinois. They were 
 issued in an extra form yesterday morning, and are transferred 
 
COMMENTS OF FRIENDS AND FOES ON THE MARTYRDOM 239 
 
 to our columns today for the benefit of our numerous readers 
 abroad. 
 
 "All our information tends to fix upon the people concerning 
 in the death of the Smiths, the odium of perfidious, blackhearted, 
 cowardly murder — so wanton as to be without any justification — so 
 inhuman and treacherous as to find no parallel in savage life under 
 any circumstances. 
 
 "Governor Ford declares his intention to seek out the mur- 
 derers ; and he owes it to his own honor and to that of the state, 
 whose faith was most grossly violated, never to cease his exertions 
 for this purpose. 
 
 "The Mormons, it will be seen, were quiet, and not disposed 
 to commit any acts of aggression ; their enemies, on the other hand, 
 were evidently disposed to push them to extremities, and to force 
 them from the state." d. H. C. 6:177-182. 
 
 From the Quincy Herald, July 10, 1844 : 
 
 It will probably never be known who shot Joseph and Hyrum 
 — but their murder was a cold-blooded, cowardly act, which will 
 consign the perpetrators, if discovered, to merited infamy and dis- 
 grace. They have broken their pledges to the Governor — disgraced 
 themselves and the State to which they belong. They have crim- 
 soned their perfidy with blood. 
 
 Nauvoo the Beautiful, by E. Cecil McGavin, p. 154-55. 
 
 EXCERPT FROM LETTER OF GOV. FORD TO W. W. PHELPS 
 
 The naked truth then is, that most well-informed persons con- 
 demn in the most unqualified manner the mode in which the Smiths 
 were put to death, but nine out of every ten of such accompany the 
 expression of their disapprobation by a manifestion of their pleas- 
 ure that they are dead. The disapproval is most unusually cold 
 and without feeling. It is a disapproval which appears to be called 
 for, on their part, by decency, by a respect for the laws and a 
 horror of mobs, but does not flow warm from the heart. The un- 
 fortunate victims of this assassination were generally and thor- 
 oughly hated throughout the country, and it is not reasonable to 
 suppose that their death has produced any reaction in the public 
 mind resulting in active sympathy; if you think so, you are mis- 
 taken. Most that is said on the subject is merely from the teeth 
 out ; and your people may depend on the fact, that public feeling is 
 now, as this time, as thoroughly against them as it has ever been. 
 
 Letter dated: Quincy, July 22, 1844. D.H.C. 6:204. 
 
 THE PROPHET'S PROMISES REALIZED 
 
 By "M. F. C." 
 
 My grandfather and his family arrived in Nauvoo from the 
 Isle of Man late in the year 1843. Finding no employment in 
 Nauvoo, grandfather and family removed to Warsaw, he giving 
 
240 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 his overcoat and grandmother's shawl as security for the loan of 
 four dollars to pay the passage thence. Here they worked hard at 
 brick-making for about six months. My father's journal contains 
 the following: 
 
 "By this time there arose a great disturbance about the 'Mor- 
 mons' throughout the State of Illinois. The little town we lived in 
 was not a whit behind in being excited, and all the inhabitants were 
 ordered to take up arms against the 'Mormons/ Nauvoo, and Joseph 
 Smith. Father, too, was ordered to take up arms against his breth- 
 ren and sisters. Two armed men came to the house we lived in, 
 and took him by force to the office, where they took names, and 
 offered him a musket, which he refused to accept, saying at the 
 same time, 'Gentlemen, I shall never fight against my brethren — 
 the Saints of Almighty God — no, never !' Those who were walking 
 behind him, when they marched him to their rendezvous, made 
 motions as though they were going to cut his throat. They would 
 not have anything to do with me because I was too young, and told 
 me to go home and take care of my mother. They then ordered 
 us to leave the town within twenty-four hours. We were not able 
 to do so, because we could not procure any conveyance. Father 
 himself was driven late in the afternoon, several miles out of town, 
 at the point of the bayonet. They told him if he ever returned they 
 would shoot him, and appointed a guard that night to see if he 
 came back. He traveled on to Nauvoo, a distance of between twenty 
 and thirty miles. There had been some very wet weather previously, 
 and the creeks were high, so that he was obliged to swim many of 
 the streams during the night. Owing to the current being so swift, 
 he was carried down some of them a considerable distance before 
 he could reach the other side. 
 
 "He reached Nauvoo in the morning feeling very fatigued. 
 After resting awhile, and receiving some refreshments, he went 
 to see the Prophet Joseph, told him what had occurred, and that 
 he had left his family to the mercy of the mob, and was afraid they 
 would massacre them. Joseph then raised his hand and said : 
 'Brother C — , they shan't hurt a hair of their heads. God bless you.' 
 Father then joined the Nauvoo Legion. The guns being all engaged, 
 he procured a pitchfork and marched. * * * 
 
 "Father was still in Nauvoo. About 4 p.m., on the 28th day 
 of June, 1844, mother and myself, being in Warsaw, heard cheering 
 and saw men throwing their hats up in the air. I felt like knowing 
 what was the matter, and ran out among them, making my way 
 through the blood-thirsty mob towards the one who was speaking. 
 I soon learned that they had killed Joseph Smith and his brother, 
 Hyrum. The speaker saw me and ordered me home to stop with 
 my mother. Knowing that I was a 'Mormon' boy, a crowd of school 
 boys followed me, being urged on by the mob. They clubbed me all 
 the way home with whatever they could find in the street. I escaped 
 them through a neighboring yard, and got into the house the back 
 way. Soon after I had occasion to go to the river for a pail of 
 water. The mob saw me again, and hired a drunken man, for a 
 large sum of money, to throw me into the river, and drown me. 
 He followed me to the bank of the Mississippi River and as I was 
 
COMMENTS OF FRIENDS AND FOES ON THE MARTYRDOM 241 
 
 stooping to dip up the pail of water, caught me by the back of the 
 neck, and said, 'Now you d — d little "Mormon, " I'll drown you.' 
 I asked him why he would drown me, and if I had ever done him 
 any harm? 'No/ he said, 'I won't drown you. I'll be d — d if I do, they 
 may drown you themselves; I've got my pay, you may go home.' 
 By this time, mother heard that the mob was drowning me. I 
 started home with my pail of water, and met her coming to rescue 
 me. Said I, 'Mother, all is right. The Lord is on our side. You 
 know Joseph prophesied the mobocrats should not hurt a hair of 
 our heads. They can't do it.' That evening they put a torch three 
 times to the house we occupied, but it would not burn. During this 
 time the mobocrats of Warsaw were moving their wives and chil- 
 dren across the river, so as to be secure from the expected 'Mormon' 
 company. After a few days of excitement and anxiety, a team came 
 for us from Nauvoo, the driver stating that Brother C — had sent 
 him for his family and goods. We were not long in packing up and 
 leaving Warsaw. We arrived in Nauvoo about 3 p.m. the next day. 
 Father was out of town on business, but we met some friends, who 
 found us a house. We got our furniture into it, and felt at home 
 once more, feeling that we were delivered from our enemies, by 
 the power of God." 
 
 Considering the times, and the trying position in which they 
 were placed, when bitter animosity in that region was aroused 
 against every man, woman and child bearing the name of Latter- 
 day Saint, and yet escaping without the slightest injury, shows 
 that Joseph was endowed with the spirit of prophecy, and that the 
 Almighty confirmed His words by the direct manifestations of His 
 providence in their behalf. Juvenile Instructor, Vol. 20:223. 
 
 THE ARCH MURDERER, THOS. C. SHARP, 
 GLORIES IN HIS CRIME 
 
 The spirit of Hancock County seemed to be in harmony with 
 that of the perjured court at Carthage. When the St. Louis Gazette 
 called "the men who killed the Smiths a pack of cowards," the editor 
 of the Warsaic Signal retorted : 
 
 " . . . instead of cowardice, they exhibited foolhardy courage, 
 for they must have known or thought that they would bring down 
 on themselves the vengeance of the Mormons. True, the act of an 
 armed body going to the jail and killing prisoners does appear at 
 first sight dastardly, but we look at it as though these men were 
 the executioners of justice, and their act is no more cowardly than 
 is the act of the hangman in stretching up a defenseless convict who 
 is incapable of resistance. If any other mode could have been de- 
 vised, or any other time selected, it would have been better; but, 
 as we have heard others say, we are satisfied that it is done, and 
 care not to philosophize on the modus operandi." 
 
 "Mormonism and Masonry" p. 21, by E. Cecil McGavin 
 
CHAPTER 12 
 
 Preparation and Funeral of the Martyrs 
 
 MARTYRS LEAVE CARTHAGE FOR NAUVOO 
 
 About 8 o'clock on the morning after the murder (the 28th) 
 Dr. Richards started for Nauvoo with the bodies of Joseph and 
 Hyrum on two wagons, accompanied by Samuel H. Smith, who was 
 a brother of Joseph and Hyrum, and a Mr. Hamilton and a guard 
 of eight soldiers who had been sent on that service by Gen. Dem- 
 ming. The bodies were covered with bushes to keep them from the 
 hot sun. Nearly all the people of the city, when they heard the 
 bodies were coming, collected together and went out to meet them ; 
 they were under the direction of the city marshal. Besides private 
 citizens there were the City Council, Joseph's staff and the staffs of 
 the other generals of the Legion, and many of the officers of that 
 body. The procession was an imposing one, and the lamentations 
 and wailings of the people, were such as are seldom witnessed or 
 heard. It was as though every person in the assemblage had lost 
 his nearest kinsmen and friends. 
 
 When the procession arrived, the bodies were both taken into 
 the Nauvoo Mansion, Joseph's residence. No language that we can 
 use would do justice to the scenes that followed. The heart-rending 
 grief of the families of the deceased and of all who were there was 
 indescribable. But the public was not then admitted to see the bodies. 
 They were told that the next morning they would be exposed to 
 view. 
 
 There were about eight or ten thousand people collected to- 
 gether on that occasion. From the frame of the building which 
 stood on the opposite corner to the Mansion they were addressed 
 by Dr. Willard Richards, W. W. Phelps, and two of Joseph's law- 
 yers, Messrs. Woods and Reid, and Col. Stephen Markham. The 
 people were admonished by Dr. Richards to keep the peace. He 
 had pledged his honor and his life, he said, for their good conduct. 
 The other speeches were generally to the same effect. The people 
 resolved with one united voice to trust to the law for a remedy of 
 such a high-handed assassination, and when that failed, to call upon 
 God to avenge them of their wrongs. 
 
 The next day it was estimated that over ten thousand persons 
 visited the Mansion to see the bodies of the Prophet and Patriarch. 
 From 8 o'clock in the morning until 5 o'clock in the evening a living 
 stream passed through the doors of the room where they laid in 
 their coffins. A mock funeral took place that afternoon by the 
 boxes which contained the coffins being carried to the graveyard 
 in the hearse. But the bodies were secretly buried that night. This 
 was done to prevent the enemies of the martyrs getting possession 
 of their bodies. 
 
 Life of Joseph the Prophet, by George Q. Cannon, Instructor, Vol. 15. 
 
PREPARATION AND FUNERAL OF THE MARTYRS 243 
 
 THE MOCK BURIAL OF THE PROPHETS 
 
 It was a solemn procession wending its way that sultry day in 
 June, from the Mansion House, on Water Street to the public ceme- 
 tery. As the hearse was drawn from the heart of the city, the 
 funeral of the martyrs was held in the grove near the Temple. 
 There were few dry eyes in the congregation as the dark carriage 
 slowly made its way along Mulholland Street. 
 
 Few, indeed, were the ones who knew that the coffins in the 
 carriage contained only bags of sand, for this burial must be as 
 secret as that of Moses, which is thus described : "For the Lord took 
 him unto his fathers * * * therefore no man knoweth of his 
 sepulchre unto this day." 
 
 At the city cemetery when the bags of sand were lowered into 
 the graves ostensibly intended for the bodies of the martyrs, strong 
 men wept like children bereft of parents, while hysterical women 
 cried and prayed and fainted ; yet the bodies were safely concealed 
 in a darkened closet at the Mansion House, for the bodies of these 
 men were not safe even in the grave. Not only the rigid bodies 
 of the martyrs, but their very graves must be buried to protect 
 them from vandal hands in the night. 
 
 The proposed secret burial was known only by a few trusted 
 friends who were pledged to guard the secret with their lives, for 
 the bodies of the martyrs must be shrouded in secrecy and buried 
 in oblivion to prevent vandal hands from profaning the final rest- 
 ing place of these martyred men.*** Fiends from Missouri — their 
 painted cheeks powder burned from the recent bombardment where 
 undisciplined men crowded together, firing promiscously and with- 
 out careful aim, so eager were they to spill the blood of the proph- 
 ets — would like to bear in triumph to Governor Boggs the head of 
 Joseph Smith. Nauvoo the Beautiful, by E. Cecil McGavin, p. 160. 
 
 THE PROPHET JOSEPH'S SISTER AND 
 BROTHER-IN-LAW TESTIFY 
 
 Mr. Fred Salisbury had no hesitation in saying that the bodies 
 of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, while buried secretly and at night 
 soon after the massacre, lie in the exact spot where they were then 
 buried, viz. : in the family burying ground a short distance in the 
 rear of the old mansion house. The bodies were deposited in a 
 brick vault. "When Aunt Emma Smith — Joseph's widow, later 
 Mrs. C. L. Bidamon died in 1875, I think, five of us boys, Fred. 
 Solomon, Don and Alvin Salisbury, and Don Milikin, all her neph- 
 ews, acted as pall bearers at her funeral. We buried Aunt Emma 
 by the side of the Prophet. Of course there can be nothing left of 
 the bodies of Joseph and Hyrum but dust. I am satisfied that the 
 Prophets were buried there, and that their bodies have never been 
 disturbed." "The reason why the burial was secret," said Mrs. 
 Salisbury, "was from the fact that a large sum of money was offered 
 for the head of Joseph. It was thought best at the time to have 
 the burial private, and both bodies were placed in a brick vault to 
 
 prevent their being stolen." Millennial Star, 56:549-51. 
 
244 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 THE PROPHETS BURIED IN THE NAUVOO HOUSE 
 
 In the soft soil of the floorless room beneath the fortress of 
 stone and brick only one story high, busy spades prepared a secret 
 tomb to hide their martyred leaders from vandal hands. Upon 
 the soft, tell-tale carpet of fresh earth forming the floor of the 
 Nauvoo House, beaten paths of footprints were left by the nocturnal 
 visitors who spared the sexton the task of burial. In the gathering 
 darkness they carried the surplus earth to the river and scattered 
 chips of wood and stone about the buried sepulchres so that the 
 spot would not look unlike the surrounding area, thus not arousing 
 the curiosity of the workmen. 
 
 Their acts of camouflage were further made complete when 
 the understanding heavens poured down a flood of tears to mingle 
 with those of the sorrowing saints. The procession soon disorgan- 
 ized, each man seeking shelter under his own roof. The privacy 
 of their homes had scarcely concealed the men who knew the sec- 
 ret of the burial, until the weeping heavens deluged the country. 
 When the pounding rain had ceased to fall, there was not a trace 
 of foot prints in the soft soil, the roily rivulets bearing them into 
 the wide stream whose arms feverishly reached across the sandy 
 shore toward the unmarked grave of the martyrs. And thus were 
 interred in a secret tomb not only the bodies of the martyrs, but 
 their graves as well. No visible mounds of earth were left to re- 
 mind the mourners of the sorrow of the separation. 
 
 Nauvoo the Beautiful, by E. Cecil McGavin, pp. 163-64. 
 
 BODIES OF THE MARTYRS REMOVED TO THEIR 
 FINAL RESTING PLACE 
 
 When the endless chain of time slowly dragged its weary links 
 of days away, numbing the sorrow of the parting and dimming the 
 widows' vision of their slain, it was deemed wisdom to remove the 
 bodies to a safer place of keeping. At the time the early autumn 
 stripped the green leaves from the trees and traded scarred, brown, 
 lifeless vegetation for the fresh foliage of the fields, the thoughts of 
 widows turned, like the season, to scenes of death. It was at this 
 sad season of the year that the widow Emma gave birth to her 
 last-born son, thus taking her thoughts back to her martyred hus- 
 band. 
 
 Emma insisted that the bodies be taken to the Old Homestead 
 and given secret burial near the intimate family who slept in the 
 shadow of the old trading post. The spot selected for this unmarked 
 grave was beneath the old Spring House. This small building was 
 simply a canopied cellar within whose moist walls of earth the 
 Smith family had stored their supply of milk, butter, cream, etc., 
 and vegetables during the hot days of summer. This sheltered 
 cellar was so deep and close to the river that its cool walls provided 
 a choice place of refrigeration. In the dead of night a group of 
 pallbearers, fewer in number than when the first burial was made, 
 reverently carried the bodies of the martyrs across the street to 
 
PREPARATION AND FUNERAL OF THE MARTYRS 245 
 
 the Old Homestead, burying them in the cool basement of the 
 Spring House. 
 
 Ten men buried the remains of the martyrs in the basement 
 of the Nauvoo House, while only four men placed the bodies in the 
 secret tomb near the Old Homestead. Before the secret was known 
 abroad, this small structure had been torn down and its cellar 
 compartment filled in with earth, thus doubly securing the mystery 
 of the unknown grave. With the passing of time it became a pro- 
 found mystery just where the Spring House stood where once the 
 graves were sheltered. 
 
 Nauvoo the Beautiful, by E. Cecil McGavin, pp. 164-65. 
 
 THE SORROW OF THE PROPHET'S SAINTED MOTHER 
 
 After the corpses were washed and dressed in their burial 
 clothes, we were allowed to see them. I had for a long time braced 
 every nerve, roused every energy of my soul and called upon God to 
 strengthen me, but when I entered the room and saw my murdered 
 sons extended both at once before my eyes and heard the sobs and 
 groans of my family and the cries of "Father ! Husband ! Brothers !" 
 from the lips of their wives, children, brothers and sisters, it was 
 too much ; I sank back, crying to the Lord in the agony of my soul : 
 'My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken this family?" A voice 
 replied : "I have taken them to myself that they might have rest." 
 Emma was carried back to her room almost in a state of insensi- 
 bility. Her oldest son approached the corpse and dropped upon his 
 knees, and laying his cheek against his father's and kissing him, 
 exclaimed, "Oh, my father! my father." As for myself, I was 
 swallowed up in the depths of my afflictions, yet I was dumb until 
 I arose again to contemplate the spectacle before me. Oh! at that 
 moment how my mind flew through every scene of sorrow and dis- 
 tress which we had passed, together, in which they had shown the 
 innocence and sympathy which filled their guileless hearts. As I 
 looked upon their peaceful, smiling countenances, I seemed almost 
 to hear them say, "Mother, iveep not for us, tve have overcome the 
 world by love; tee carried to them the gospel, that their souls might 
 be saved; they sleiu us for our testimony, and thus placed us beyond 
 their power; their ascendency is for a moment, ours is an eternal 
 triumph." I then thought upon the promise which I had received 
 in Missouri, that in five years Joseph should have power over all 
 his enemies. The time had elapsed and the promise was fulfilled.*** 
 
 On the following day the funeral rites of the murdered ones 
 were attended to, in the midst of terror and alarm, for the mob had 
 made their arrangements to burn the city that night, but by the 
 diligence of the brethren, they were kept at bay until they became 
 discouraged and returned to their homes. *** 
 
 Here ends the history of my life, as well as that of my family, 
 as far as I intend carrying it for the present. And I shall leave 
 the world to judge, as seemeth them good, concerning what I have 
 written. But this much I will say, that the testimony which I have 
 given is true, and will stand forever; and the same will be my 
 testimony in the day of God Almighty, when I shall meet them, 
 
246 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 concerning whom I have testified, before angels, and the spirits of 
 the just made perfect, before archangels and seraphims, cherubims 
 and gods; where the brief authority of the unjust man will shrink 
 to nothingness before him who is the Lord of lords, and God of 
 gods; and where the righteousness of the just shall exalt them in 
 the scale, wherein God weigheth the hearts of men. And now hav- 
 ing, in common with the saints, appealed in vain for justice, to 
 Lilburn W. Boggs, Thomas Carlin, Martin Van Buren and Thomas 
 Ford, I bid them a last farewell, until I shall appear with them be- 
 fore Him who is the judge of both the quick and the dead ; to whom 
 I solemnly appeal in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. 
 
 History of Joseph Smith, by his mother, Lucy Mack Smith, pp. 324-28. 
 
 GRAVES OF THE MARTYRS DESECRATED BY 
 DESCENDANTS OF THE PROPHET JOSEPH 
 
 Note: The following is taken from the Quincy Herald-Whig, of 
 Sunday, January 22, 1928, copy of which paper is owned by the com- 
 piler of this book. The article appeared under the caption: "Bones 
 of Mormon Founders Buried at Scene of Historic Colony. Joseph 
 and Hyrum Smith Graves Found in Nauvoo; Old Mystery Cleared 
 Up." The article is written by Dave TufTli, Herald-Whig staff re- 
 porter.) 
 
 "Nauvoo, 111., Jan. 22. Three skeletons, brown with a century's 
 decay, lay in three narrow crypts in a tiny cemetery on the shore of 
 Lake Cooper. Wan, wintry sunlight shadowed the gaunt branches 
 of trees across the strange grave, and sharp gusts of wind stirred 
 the bones in their shallow vaults. A reverent group huddled to- 
 gether as a plaintive voice rose above the ice-muffled requiem of 
 the Mississippi — a minister, pleading for divine guidance. For 
 twenty minutes the voice, quivering with cold at times, intoned a 
 prayer. A cold blast swept "Amen" from his lips, the skeletons 
 were covered, the crypts sealed and a hundred persons hurried to 
 shelter. Such were the final rites Friday for Joseph Smith. Jr., 
 founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, orig- 
 inally known as the Mormon church, and Hyrum Smith, his brother, 
 whose secreted graves were located in Nauvoo by officials of the 
 Church after a six-day search. The bones of Emma Smith, wife of 
 Joseph, were placed beside the skeletons of the brothers. 
 
 "Joseph and Hyrum Smith were shot to death by a mob in the 
 Hancock county jail at Carthage, June 27, 1844. Their bodies were 
 taken to Nauvoo and the burial place was kept secret by Emma 
 Smith who feared that enemies might mutilate them. The story 
 of the secret burial was divulged to Frederick M. Smith, of Kansas 
 City, Mo., grandson of the Prophet Joseph Smith, by Frederick 
 Smith's father, Joseph Smith III. The exact location of the grave 
 was not determined until less than a week ago. The bodies have been 
 positively identified, according to officials of the Church of Jesus 
 Christ of Latter-day Saints. The bones were placed in crypts and 
 sealed in a solid block of concrete which will form the foundation 
 for an impressive monument to be erected later. Services held at 
 the sealing of the crypts were simple and brief. Three oblong 
 
PREPARATION AND FUNERAL OF THE MARTYRS 247 
 
 depressions had been sunk in a base of concrete. After the skulls 
 of both Joseph and Hyrum Smith had been photographed from 
 every angle, the skeletons were assembled on beds of soft material 
 placed in the depressions. The feet lay to the north, and the heads 
 to the south. Joseph Smith, as founder of the Mormon church, 
 now known as the Re-organized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- 
 day Saints, was placed in the center crypt. To his east was placed 
 Hyrum Smith, his brother, and to the west, the bones of Emma 
 Smith, wife of Joseph, taken from another grave, were laid. * * * 
 
 "Settlement of rumors concerning the location of the bodies of 
 Joseph and Hyrum Smith for all time is the most important sig- 
 nificance of the discovery made in Nauvoo a feiv days ago, accord- 
 ing to Frederick M. Smith, president of the Reorganized Church of 
 Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and J. A. Gardner, publicity di- 
 rector. 'We think it rather opportune that the discovery came at 
 this time/ Mr. Gardner said, 'in view of the fact that in 1930 we 
 are preparing to celebrate the first centennial of the Church. It 
 will have been organized 100 years on April 6, 1930. We are pre- 
 paring for a great celebration at Independence, Mo., and expect 
 by that time to have the monument over the bodies of Joseph and 
 Hyrum Smith erected at Nauvoo/ 
 
 "Frederick M. Smith of Kansas City, now president of the 
 Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, spoke 
 briefly, eulogizing his grandfather and Hyrum Smith as martyrs 
 to their religion. Then James A. Gillen, member of the Quorum of 
 Twelve Apostles, of Independence, Mo., gave a long prayer. The 
 services were made brief because of inclement weather. The crypts 
 of the three Smiths are located in the old Mormon burial ground, 
 a small enclosed plot located about eight blocks west of the Nauvoo 
 business district, on a peninsula which extends into Lake Cooper, 
 as the Mississippi is known at that point. It is, perhaps, one of 
 the most beautiful spots on the upper Mississippi. Adjacent to the 
 graveyard are the Mansion House, where Joseph Smith was re- 
 siding at the time he was assassinated; the Joseph Smith home 
 and the Nauvoo house, located to the south of the Smith home, 
 which was to have been a hotel. All of these buildings, though 
 almost a century old, are still standing and have been kept in 
 excellent repair by the church. J. W. Layton, caretaker of the 
 Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at Nauvoo, lives in 
 the Mansion House. 
 
 "Officials of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- 
 day Saints, say there is no doubt regarding the identity of the 
 skeletons. The skull of Hyrum, saints say, clearly shows a bullet 
 hole beneath the right eye and to the right of the nose, which 
 biographers and historians claim was the manner in which Hyrum 
 was wounded. Hyrum Smith was leaning against the door of the 
 Hancock county jail to resist forced entrance when a bullet plowed 
 through the door and struck him in the face. The skull is torn 
 away at the point where the bullet is supposed to have struck, and 
 church officials believe this to show the course of the bullet. No 
 bullets were found in the graves, however. 
 
 "People of Nauvoo and members of the Reorganized church 
 
248 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 apparently have always been certain that the bodies of the two 
 Smiths were located in Nauvoo. However, officials of the Reor- 
 ganized church say they have found it necessary to repudiate state- 
 ments emanating from the Utah branch of the church that the 
 bodies were in Utah. The Utah and the Reorganized church are 
 separate. A breach exists. 
 
 "Frederick M. Smith, now president of the Reorganized church, 
 tells an interesting story of the finding of the bodies. His father, 
 he said, remembered standing by the side of Emma Smith as the 
 bodies were lowered into shallow graves which had been prepared 
 in the bottom of a spring house, standing near the old homestead. 
 The spring house, Joseph Smith III told Frederick, had a brick 
 floor and foundation wall. The bodies would be found in the north- 
 west corner of the place designated, he was told. All of this had 
 been kept a family secret. Emma Smith had kept it so after she 
 allowed two coffins filled with sand to be buried as Joseph and 
 Hyrum Smith, in a Nauvoo cemetery. The spring house rotted 
 and fell away, leaving no mark by which the grave might be found. 
 Attempt to locate the bodies had been discussed often, but other 
 activities prevented until Wednesday, January 11. On that day, 
 W. 0. Hand, of Kansas City, engineer, started excavation in the 
 vicinity. He and his men first dug near the water's edge, outside 
 the graveyard enclosure, but met with no success. Then a trench 
 system of searching was devised and after 'a season of prayer,' 
 Mr. Hand and his crew uncovered the bodies on Monday, January 
 16. The grave of Emma Smith was opened first. It was marked, 
 but the grave stone was removed some distance from the body. 
 From this grave trenches were extended to determine where the 
 ground had been disturbed and finally to the south and west of the 
 feet of Emma Smith the brick walls of the old spring house were 
 struck. Proceeding farther, the men uncovered the remains of 
 two walnut coffins lying side by side, the tops of which had caved 
 in. The wood was nearly dust and gave way as soon as touched. 
 A group of Nauvoo citizens was called in to view the bones in the 
 grave. The bodies were then taken out and put in canvas and the 
 skulls were conveyed to the Mansion House, where they were 
 photographed." 
 
 FUNERAL AND INTERMENT OF THE MARTYRS 
 
 By B. H. Roberts 
 
 When the bodies of Joseph and Hyrum arrived at the Mansion, 
 the doors were closed immediately. The people were told to go 
 quietly home, and the bodies would be viewed the next morning at 
 eight o'clock. 
 
 Dimick B. Huntington, with the assistance of William Marks 
 and William D. Huntington, washed the bodies from head to foot. 
 Joseph was shot in the right breast, also under the heart, in the 
 lower part of his bowels and the right side, and on the back part 
 of the right hip. One ball had come out at the right shoulder-blade. 
 Cotton soaked in camphor was put into each wound, and the bodies 
 
PREPARATION AND FUNERAL OF THE MARTYRS 249 
 
 laid out with fine plain drawers and shirt, white neckerchiefs, 
 white cotton stockings and white shrouds. (Gilbert Goldsmith was 
 doorkeeper at the time). 
 
 After this was done, Emma (who at the time was pregnant) 
 also Mary (Hyrum's wife) with the children of the martyred 
 Prophet and Patriarch, were admitted to see the bodies. On first 
 seeing the corpse of her husband, Emma screamed and fell back, 
 but was caught and supported by Dimick B. Huntington. She then 
 fell forward to the Prophet's face and kissed him, calling him by 
 name, and begged him to speak to her once. Mary, (the Patriarch's 
 wife) manifested calmness and composure throughout the trying 
 scene, which was affecting in the extreme. Relatives and particular 
 friends were also permitted to view the remains during the evening. 
 
 Saturday 29. — At 7 a.m. the bodies were put into the coffins 
 which were covered with black velvet fastened with brass nails. 
 Over the face of each corpse a lid was hung with brass hinges, 
 under which was a square of glass to protect the face, and the coffin 
 was lined with white cambric. The coffins were then each put into 
 a rough pine box. 
 
 At 8 a.m. the room was thrown open for the Saints to view 
 the bodies of their martyred Prophet and Patriarch, and it is 
 estimated that over ten thousand persons visited the remains that 
 day, as there was a perfect living stream of people entering in at 
 the west door of the Mansion and out at the north door from 8 a.m. 
 to 5 p.m., at which hour a request was made that the Mansion 
 should be cleared, so that the family could take their farewell look 
 at the remains. 
 
 The coffins were then taken out of the boxes into the little 
 bedroom in the northeast corner of the Mansion, and there con- 
 cealed and the doors locked. Bags of sand were then placed in 
 each end of the boxes, which were nailed up, and a mock funeral 
 took place, the boxes being put into a hearse and driven to the 
 graveyard by William D. Huntington, and there deposited in a 
 grave with the usual ceremonies. 
 
 This was done to prevent enemies of the martyred Prophet 
 and Patriarch getting possession of the bodies, as they threatened 
 they would do. As the hearse passed the meeting ground accom- 
 panied by a few men, William W. Phelps, was preaching the funeral 
 sermon. 
 
 About midnight the coffins containing the bodies were taken 
 from the Mansion by Dimick B. Huntington, Edward Hunter, Wil- 
 liam D. Huntington, William Marks, Jonathan H. Holmes, Gilbert 
 Goldsmith, Alpheus Cutler, Lorenzo D. Wasson, and Philip B. 
 Lewis, preceded by James Emmett as guard with his musket. 
 
 They went through the garden, round by the pump, and were 
 conveyed to the Nauvoo house, which was then built to the first 
 joists of the basement, and buried in the basement story. 
 
 After the bodies were interred, and the ground smoothed off 
 as it was before, and chips of wood and stone and other rubbish 
 thrown over, so as to make it appear like the rest of the ground 
 around the graves, a most terrific shower of rain, accompanied with 
 
250 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 thunder and lightning, occurred, and obliterated all traces of the 
 fact that the earth had been newly dug. 
 
 The bodies remained in the cellar of the Nauvoo House where 
 they were buried, until the fall, when they were removed by Dimick 
 B. Huntington, William D. Huntington, Jonathan H. Holmes, and 
 Gilbert Goldsmith, at Emma's request, to near the Mansion, and 
 buried side by side, and the bee house then moved and placed over 
 their graves. 
 
 The deceased children of Joseph were afterwards removed and 
 interred in the same place. It was found at this time that two 
 of Hyrum's teeth had fallen into the inside of his mouth, supposed 
 to have been done by a ball at the time of the martyrdom, but which 
 was not discovered at the time he was laid out, in consequence of 
 his jaws being tied up. d. H. C. 6:627-9. 
 
 STATEMENT BY B. H. ROBERTS 
 
 The above (that is, the "Funeral and Interment of the Mar- 
 tyrs") is from the Deseret News of November 25, 1857, published 
 in Salt Lake City. The same historical statement verbatim is found 
 in the Millennial Star of August 9, 1862, which was republishing 
 at the time this History from the Deseret Xeivs. This historical 
 narrative of the burial of Joseph and Hyrum Smith from the two 
 preceding periodicals was published in book form under the title 
 of the History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 
 and includes the above excerpt from the Deseret News and Millen- 
 nial Star, in Vol. 6, pages 627-629, so that this has been the con- 
 tinuous history of the burial and burial places of the two martyrs 
 before the people of Utah and all the world. 
 
 "In 1884, while writing my Rise and Fall of Nauvoo, I 
 visited Nauvoo to secure photographs for illustrating the articles 
 on the above subject which were then appearing in the Contributor, 
 a magazine published in Salt Lake City. After photographing the 
 house which was known as the old Smith homestead, and after- 
 wards as the home of Hyrum Smith, I called upon Major Bidamon 
 who at that time was living just across the road from Emma 
 Smith's grave in some rooms raised on the foundations of the 
 Nauvoo House. Mr. Bidamon married Emma Smith some years 
 after the death of the prophet. In the course of the conversation 
 I asked Major Bidamon why Emma Smith was buried out in the 
 yard of the Smith homestead alone, rather than in the Nauvoo 
 cemetery. To this Mr. Bidamon replied: 'She isn't alone; she is 
 buried by the side of her former husband, Joseph Smith and his 
 brother Hyrum.' He then went on to say that a day or two before 
 her demise, Emma Smith called those to her who would likely 
 dispose of her remains, after her death, and directed them to go 
 to the southeast corner of the old Smith homestead, and in a di- 
 rect line from that corner take twenty-five paces and there dig 
 down and they would come upon a brick vault. She desired that 
 her coffin be placed by the side of that vault. She did not ask for 
 the vault to be opened, but that her coffin might be laid by the side 
 
PREPARATION AND FUNERAL OF THE MARTYRS 251 
 
 of it, and 'that was done according to her wishes/ said Mr. Bida- 
 mon." 
 
 "On returning to Salt Lake City from this visit to Nauvoo, 
 I reported this incident to President Joseph F. Smith, the son of 
 Hyrum Smith, and later president of the Church, whereupon Joseph 
 F. Smith stated that this was in exact accordance with information 
 imparted to him by his mother, Mary Fielding Smith, wife of 
 Hyrum Smith. She had stated to him, Joseph Fielding Smith, that 
 at the time that the remains of Joseph and Hyrum were being 
 removed in the night by Emma Smith, from their first place of 
 interment in the basement of the Nauvoo house, she awoke in the 
 night, having a strange presentiment that something was wrong. 
 Some strange thing was either impending or happening, which 
 made her restless and sleepless, and so about midnight she arose 
 from her bed, went about the house and finally outside of it, and 
 soon discovered that something was going on over at the Nauvoo 
 House, and accordingly, on crossing the road she came upon the 
 parties who were removing the bodies of her husband and his 
 brother, under the direction of Emma Smith. Evidently she as- 
 sented to the removal to which she had been so strangely brought 
 as a witness; and this was the account of that experience which 
 she related to her son Joseph F. Smith, in whose family the incident 
 is a cherished memory.**** 
 
 "Moreover, Elder S. 0. Bennion, president of the Central 
 States Mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 
 stationed at Independence, Missouri, writing to the president of 
 the Church at Salt Lake City, Utah, under date of January 21, 
 1928, says : 
 
 "Several years ago 'Young Joseph' as he was called (president 
 of the Reorganized church) told me he was going to bring his 
 father's body to Independence, and when I went out to Utah to 
 conference I told President Joseph F. Smith, and President Smith 
 said to me: 'You tell Joseph not to disturb those bodies without 
 letting me know/ " 
 
 This message was delivered and there evidently the matter of 
 removing the bodies was dropped by Mr. Fred M. Smith's predeces- 
 sor. 
 
 In view of all of this information representing continuous 
 knowledge by the Church authorities in Utah as to the whereabouts 
 of the burial place of the brothers, Joseph and Hyrum Smith, it 
 will appear to reasonable minds that the effort of sensational 
 "finding" of the skeletons of these men, and the claim of the Utah 
 church authorities being overthrown by such alleged "discovery" 
 is ridiculous and a cheap effort at sensationalism, and the bolster- 
 ing up of a cheaper claim of "inspirational guidance" in the finding 
 of them, when all along the Reorganized Church branch of the 
 Smith family have known of the location of these bodies as well as 
 the Utah branch of the Smith family has known of it. 
 
 In plain terms, the whole procedure of Mr. Fred M. Smith 
 and those associated with him in this business is unwarranted, a 
 cheap bid for a sensation, and for the reputation of being guided 
 by "inspiration" to find the remains of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, 
 
252 
 
 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 when there was no occasion for such "guidance," the location of 
 the bodies being positively known already by Mr. Fred M. Smith, 
 according to his own statement relative to the instruction which 
 his father had given him as to the place where the two brothers 
 were buried before his "engineers and surveyors began the alleged 
 search." 
 
 Deseret News, January 31, 1928. 
 
 
 GtAveSrHF tH'£ ftAftrrM 
 
 "The remains of the bodies of the Martyrs were re-interred in this cement 
 grave on January 20, 1928, by Frederick M. Smith, the President of the Re- 
 organized Church, after first disturbing the sacred bodies of the Martyrs by 
 taking them to the Mansion House, photographing and measuring the skulls 
 and bones, placing the remains in separate boxed apartments, and then 
 covering deeply with cement. 
 
CHAPTER 13 
 
 The Sorrow and Mourning of the Saints 
 
 NIGHT OF THE MARTYRDOM 
 
 By Apostle Orson Hyde 
 
 Twenty-seventh of June, 1844. Eventful period in the calendar 
 of the nineteenth century ! That awful night ! I remember it well : 
 I shall never forget it ! Thousands and tens of thousands will never 
 forget it ! A solemn thrill — a melancholy awe comes o'er my spirit ! 
 The memorable scene is fresh before me ! It requires no art of the 
 pencil, no retrospection of history, to portray it. The impression of 
 the Almighty Spirit on that occasion will run parallel with eternity ! 
 The scene was not portrayed by earthquake, or thunderings, and 
 lightnings, and tempests; but the majesty and sovereignty of 
 Jehovah was felt far more impressively in the still, small voice of 
 that significant hour, than the roaring of many waters, or the 
 artillery of many thunders, when the spirit of Joseph was driven 
 back to the bosom of God, by an ungrateful and bloodthirsty world ! 
 There was an unspeakable something, a portentious significancy 
 in the firmament and among the inhabitants of the earth. Multi- 
 tudes felt the whisperings of woe and grief, and the forebodings of 
 tribulation and sorrow that they will never forget, though the 
 tongue of man can never utter it. The Saints of God, whether near 
 the scene of blood, or even a thousand miles distant, felt at the 
 very moment the Prophet lay in royal gore, that an awful deed was 
 perpetrated. 0, the repulsive chill! the melancholy vibrations of 
 the very air, as the prince of darkness receded in hopeful triumph 
 from the scene of slaughter ! That night could not the Saints sleep, 
 though uninformed by man of what had passed with the Seer and 
 Patriarch, and far, far remote from the scene; yet to them sleep 
 refused a visitation — the eyelids refused to close — the hearts of 
 many sighed deeply in secret, and inquired, "Why am I thus?" 
 
 One of the Twelve Apostles, while traveling a hundred miles 
 from the scene of assassination, and totally ignorant of what was 
 done, was so unaccountably sad, and filled with such unspeakable 
 anguish of heart without knowing the cause, that he was con- 
 strained to turn aside from the road and give utterance to his 
 feelings in tears and supplications to God. Another Apostle, twelve 
 hundred miles distant, while standing in Faneuil Hall, Boston, 
 Massachusetts, with many others, was similarly affected, and was 
 obliged to turn aside to hide the big tears that gushed thick and 
 long from his eyes. Another, President of the High Priests, while 
 in the distant state of Kentucky, in the solitude of midnight, being 
 marvelously disquieted, God condescended to show him, in a vision, 
 the mangled bodies of the two murdered worthies, all dripping in 
 
254 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 purple gore, who said to him, "We are murdered by a faithless state 
 and cruel mob." 
 
 Shall I attempt to describe the scene at Nauvoo on that 
 memorable evening? If I could, surely you would weep, whatever 
 may be your faith or skepticism, if the feelings of humanity are 
 lodged in your bosom; all prejudice and mirth would slumber, till 
 the eye of pity had bedewed the bier, and the heart had found relief 
 in lamentation. Before another day dawned, the messenger bore 
 the tidings into the afflicted city; the picket guards of the city 
 heard the whisper of murder in silent amazement, as the messenger 
 passed into the city. There the pale muslin signal for gathering 
 the troops hung its drooping folds from the Temple spire (as if 
 partaking of nature's sadness), and made tremulous utterance to 
 the humble soldiery to muster immediately. As the dawn made the 
 signal visible, and the bass tone of the great drum confirmed the 
 call, fathers, husbands, and minor sons, all seized the broken frag- 
 ment of a dodger, or a scanty bone, for the service that might be 
 long and arduous before their return, or swallowed some thickened 
 milk (as might be the case), and fled to the muster ground; the 
 suspicious mother and children followed to the door and window, 
 anxious to see the gathering hosts emerge from their watch-posts 
 and firesides, where rest and food were scanted to the utmost endur- 
 ance. The troops continued to arrive, and stood in martial order, 
 with a compressed lip and a quick ear. They waited with deathly 
 but composed silence, to hear the intelligence that mournful spirits 
 had saddened their hearts with during the night. The speaker 
 stood up in the midst, not of an uniform soldiery of hirelings, for 
 they had no wages; their clothing was the workmanship of the 
 diligent domestic — the product of wife and daughters' arduous 
 toil ; their rations were drawn from the precarious supplies earned 
 in the intervals between preaching to the states and nations of the 
 earth, and watching against the intrusions and violence of mobs. 
 The speaker announced the martyrdom of the Prophet and Patri- 
 arch, and paused under the heavy burden of the intelligence. 
 
 But here I must pause ; my pen shall touch lightly, as it must 
 feebly, that hallowed — that solemn and ever-memorable hour ! The 
 towering indignation ; the holy and immutable principle of retribu- 
 tion for crime that dwells eternally in the bosom of God, insensibly 
 impelled the right hand almost to draw the glittering sword, and 
 feel the sharpness of the bayonet's point and its fixedness to the 
 musket's mouth. But the well-planted principle of self-command, 
 and also of observing the order of Heaven and the counsel of the 
 Priesthood, soon returned the deadly steel to the scabbard; and 
 the victorious triumph of loyalty to God, in committing evil-doers 
 to Him that judgeth righteously, and who hath said, "Vengeance 
 is mine, and I will repay," prevailed over the billows of passion; 
 and in the transit of a fleeting moment the holy serenity of the 
 soldiery, depicted by an occasional tear, showed to the angels and 
 men that the tempest of passion was hushed, and wholly under the 
 control of the spirit of wisdom and of God ! 
 
 The Frontier Guardian, June 27, 1849, Council Bluffs, Iowa. 
 The Elders Journal, March 1, 1907. 
 
THE SORROW AND MOURNING OF THE SAINTS 255 
 
 WILFORD WOODRUFF AND BRIGHAM YOUNG 
 WEEP OVER THE MARTYRDOM 
 
 By Wilford Woodruff 
 
 I was sitting with Brigham Young in the depot in the city of 
 Boston at the time when the two prophets were martyred. Of 
 course we had no telegraphs and no fast reports as we have today 
 to give communication over the land. During that period Brother 
 Young was waiting there for a train of cars to go to Peterborough. 
 Whilst sitting there we were overshadowed by a cloud of darkness 
 and gloom as great as I ever witnessed in my life under almost any 
 circumstances in which we were placed. Neither of us knew or 
 understood the cause until after the report of the death of the 
 prophets was manifested to us. Brother Brigham left ; I remained 
 in Boston, and next day took passage for Fox Islands, a place I had 
 visited some years before, and baptized numbers of people and 
 organized branches upon both those islands. My father-in-law, 
 Ezra Carter, carried me on a wagon from Scarborough to Portland. 
 I there engaged passage on board of a steamer. I had put my trunk 
 on board and was just bidding my father-in-law farewell, when 
 a man came out from a shop — a shoemaker — holding a newspaper 
 in his hand. He said, "Father Carter, Joseph and Hyrum Smith 
 have been martyred — they have been murdered in Carthage jail!" 
 
 As soon as I looked at the paper, the Spirit said to me that it 
 was true. I had no time for consultation, the steamer's bell was 
 ringing, so I stepped on board and took my trunk back to land. As 
 I drew it off, the plank was drawn in. I told Father Carter to drive 
 me back to Scarborough. I there took the car for Boston, and 
 arrived at that place on the Saturday night. On my arrival there 
 I received a letter which had been sent from Nauvoo, giving us an 
 account of the killing of the prophets. I was the only man in Boston 
 of the quorum of the Twelve. 
 
 I had very strange feelings, as, I have no doubt, all the Saints 
 had. I attended a meeting on the following day in Boydston's Hall, 
 where a vast number of the inhabitants of Boston and some three 
 hundred Latter-day Saints had assembled. Hundreds of men came 
 to that meeting to see what the "Mormons" were going to do now 
 that their prophets were dead. I felt braced up ; every nerve, bone, 
 and sinew tvithin me seemed as though made of steel. I did not 
 shed a tear. I went into that hall, though I knew not what I was 
 going to say to that vast audience. I opened the Bible promiscu- 
 ously and opened to the words of St. John where he saw under 
 the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and 
 heard them cry, "How long, Lord, holy and true, dost thou not 
 judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?" The 
 Lord informed them that they must wait a little season, until their 
 brethren were slain as they were. I spoke on those words. 
 
 Next day I met Brigham Young in the streets of Boston, he 
 having just returned, opposite to Sister Voce's home. We reached 
 out our hands but neither of us was able to speak sl word. We 
 walked into Sister Voce's house. We each took a seat and veiled 
 
256 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 our faces. We were overwhelmed with grief and our faces were 
 soon bathed in a flood of tears. I felt then that I could talk, though 
 I could not do so before — that is, to Brother Brigham. After we 
 had done weeping we began to converse together concerning the 
 death of the prophets. In the course of the conversation, he smote 
 his hand upon his thigh and said: "Thank God, the keys of the 
 kingdom are here." Millennial Star, Vol. 51, 545-47. 
 
 LOCATION OF THE TWELVE AT THE TIME 
 OF THE MARTYRDOM 
 
 "Brigham was away with the majority of the Twelve when 
 the martyrdom took place. Two only were in Nauvoo; they were 
 Willard Richards and John Taylor. Both of these were in prison 
 with the Prophet when the assassins, with painted faces, broke into 
 Carthage gaol, overpowered the guards and martyred the brothers 
 Joseph and Hyrum. No pen can describe the universal shock felt 
 among the Saints when the news burst upon them, and sped 
 throughout the United States and Europe. 
 
 Brigham Young and Orson Pratt were together at Peterboro, 
 N. H., at the house of Brother Bemet, when a letter from Nauvoo 
 came to a Mr. Joseph Powers, giving particulars of the assassina- 
 tion. The rumor met them first at Salem. Awful as it was to him, 
 the President too well realized that unless the Twelve were equal 
 to the occasion, the Church was in danger of dissolution or a great 
 schism. At best, the Saints must feel for a moment as sheep with- 
 out a shepherd. 
 
 "Those who have followed him in his eventful career, know 
 that Brigham is always greatest on great occasions. He never 
 fails in a trying hour. **** The first thing that I thought of,' says 
 the President, 'was whether Joseph had taken the keys of the 
 kingdom with him from the earth. Brother Orson Pratt sat on 
 my left; we were both leaning back in our chairs. Bringing my 
 hand down on my knee, I said, the keys of the kingdom are right 
 here with the Church/ 
 
 "The President immediately started for Boston, where he held 
 council with Heber C. Kimball, Orson Pratt, and Wilford Woodruff, 
 relative to their return to Nauvoo. Heber and Brigham remained 
 there a week, awaiting the arrival of Apostle Lyman Wight. During 
 their stay, they ordained, at one evening meeting, thirty-two elders. 
 This act was conclusive evidence that these apostles did not intend 
 to let the Church die. 
 
 "As soon as Lyman Wight arrived, the three set out for 
 Nauvoo, and at Albany they were joined by Orson Hyde, Orson 
 Pratt and Wilford Woodruff." 
 
 Life of Brigham Young, by Edw. W. Tullidge, pp. 105-07. 
 
 PARLEY P. PRATT IS COMFORTED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT 
 
 President B. Young and most of the members of the quorum 
 of the Twelve, were then on a mission through the Eastern States, 
 as well as myself. While on this mission, on the 27th of June, 1844, 
 
THE SORROW AND MOURNING OF THE SAINTS 257 
 
 a mob murdered the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum, 
 in a jail at Carthage, Illinois, while Governor Ford had pledged 
 the faith of the State for their protection. 
 
 A day or two previous to this circumstance I had been con- 
 strained by the Spirit to start prematurely for home, without 
 knowing why or wherefore ; and on the same afternoon I was pass- 
 ing on a canal boat near Utica, New York, on my way to Nauvoo. 
 My brother, William Pratt, being then on a mission in the same 
 State (New York), happened, providentially, to take passage on 
 the same boat. As we conversed together on the deck, a strange 
 and solemn awe came over me, as if the powers of hell were let 
 loose. I was so overwhelmed with sorrow I could hardly speak; 
 and after pacing the deck for some time in silence, I turned to my 
 brother William and exclaimed: ''Brother William, this is a dark 
 hour; the powers of darkness seem to triumph, and the spirit of 
 murder is abroad in the land; and it controls the hearts of the 
 American people, and a vast majority of them sanction the killing 
 of the innocent. My brother, let us keep silence and not open our 
 mouths. If you have any pamphlets or books on the fulness of the 
 gospel lock them up; show them not, neither open your mouth to 
 the people; let us observe an entire and solemn silence, for this 
 is a dark day, and the hour of triumph for the powers of darkness. 
 0, how sensible I am of the spirit of murder which seems to per- 
 vade the whole land." This was June 27, 1844, in the afternoon, 
 and as near as I can judge, it was the same hour that the Carthage 
 mob were shedding the blood of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, and 
 John Taylor, near one thousand miles distant. My brother bid me 
 farewell somewhere in western New York, he being on his way 
 to a conference in that quarter, and passing on to Buffalo I took 
 steamer for Chicago, Illinois. 
 
 The steamer touched at a landing in Wisconsin, some fifty 
 or sixty miles from Chicago, and here some new passengers came 
 on board and brought the news of the martyrdom of Joseph and 
 Hyrum Smith. Great excitement prevailed on board, there being 
 a general spirit of exultation and triumph at this glorious news, 
 as it was called, much the same as is generally shown on the first 
 receipt of the news of a great national victory in time of war. 
 Many passengers now gathered about me and tauntingly inquired 
 what the Mormons would do now, seeing their Prophet and leader 
 was killed. To these taunts and questions I replied, that they 
 would continue their mission and spread the work he had restored, 
 in all the world. Observing that nearly all the prophets and Apos- 
 tles who were before him had been killed, and also the Saviour of 
 the world, and yet their death did not alter the truth nor hinder 
 its final triumph. 
 
 At this reply many of them seemed astonished, and some 
 inquired who would succeed him, and remarked to me : "Perhaps 
 you will be the man who will now seek to be leader of the Mormons 
 in his stead — who are you, sir?" I replied: "I am a man, sir; and 
 a man never triumphs and exults in the ruin of his country and the 
 murder of the innocent." This was said in the energy of my soul, 
 and by constraint of the Spirit, and a powerful and peculiar accent 
 
258 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 was thrown upon the word MAN each time it occurred in the 
 sentence. This served as a sufficient rebuke, and all were silent. 
 
 Landing in Chicago I found great excitement, and the press 
 had issued extras announcing the triumph of the murderous mob 
 in killing the Smiths. I now hastened on to Peoria, and, staying 
 over night, started next day on foot across the country to Nauvoo — 
 distance 105 miles. 
 
 During the two or three days I spent in traveling between 
 Chicago and Peoria I felt so weighed down with sorrow and the 
 powers of darkness that it was painful for me to converse or speak 
 to any one, or even to try to eat or sleep. I really felt that if it had 
 been my own family who had died, and our beloved Prophet been 
 spared alive, I could have borne it, and the blow would have fallen 
 on me with far less weight. I had loved Joseph with a warmth of 
 affection indescribable for about fourteen years. I had associated 
 with him in private and in public, in travels and at home, in joy 
 and sorrow, in honor and dishonor, in adversity of every kind. 
 With him I had triumphed over all our foes in Missouri, and found 
 deliverance for ourselves and people in Nauvoo, where we had 
 reared a great city. But now he was gone to the invisible world, 
 and we and the Church of the Saints were left to mourn in sorrow 
 and without the presence of our beloved founder and Prophet. 
 
 As I walked along over the plains of Illinois, lonely and solitary, 
 I reflected as follows : I am now drawing near to the beloved city ; 
 in a day or two I shall be there. How shall I meet the sorrowing 
 widows and. orphans? How shall I meet the aged and widowed 
 mother of these two martyrs? How shall I meet an entire com- 
 munity bowed down with grief and sorrow unutterable? What 
 shall I say? or how console and advise twenty-five thousand people 
 who will throng about me in tears, and in the absence of my Presi- 
 dent and the older members of the now presiding council, will ask 
 counsel at my hands? Shall I tell them to fly to the wilderness and 
 deserts? Or, shall I tell them to stay at home and take care of 
 themselves, and continue to build the Temple? With these reflec- 
 tions and inquiries, I walked onward, weighed down as it were 
 unto death. When I could endure it no longer, I cried out aloud, 
 saying : Lord, in the name of Jesus Christ I pray Thee, show me 
 what these things mean, and what I shall say to Thy people? On 
 a sudden the Spirit of God came upon me, and filled my heart with 
 joy and gladness indescribable; and while the spirit of revelation 
 glowed in my bosom with as visible a warmth and gladness as if 
 it were fire, the Spirit said unto me : "Lift up your head and rejoice ; 
 for behold! it is well with my servants Joseph and Hyrum. My 
 servant Joseph still holds the keys of my kingdom in this dispen- 
 sation, and he shall stand in due time on the earth, in the flesh, 
 and fulfil that to which he is appointed. Go and say unto my 
 people in Nauvoo, that they shall continue to pursue their daijy 
 duties and take care of themselves, and make no movement in 
 Church government to reorganize or alter anything until the return 
 of the remainder of the quorum of the Twelve. But exhort them 
 that they continue to build the House of the Lord which I have 
 commanded them to build in Nauvoo." 
 
THE SORROW AND MOURNING OF THE SAINTS 259 
 
 This information caused my bosom to burn with joy and glad- 
 ness, and I was comforted above measure; all my sorrow seemed 
 in a moment to be lifted as a burden from my back. The change 
 was so sudden I hardly dared to believe my senses. I, therefore, 
 prayed the Lord to repeat to me the same things the second time ; 
 if, indeed, I might be sure of their truth, and might really tell the 
 Saints to stay in Nauvoo, and continue to build the Temple. As 
 I prayed thus, the same spirit burned in my bosom, and the Spirit 
 of the Lord repeated to me the same message again. I then went 
 on my way rejoicing, and soon arrived in Nauvoo, and delivered 
 this message both to the people and friends individually, and in 
 the great congregation. In confirmation that the message was right, 
 I found them already renewing their labors on the Temple, under 
 the direction of John Taylor and Willard Richards, who were 
 members of our quorum, and who were in jail with the prophets 
 when they were murdered — Taylor being wounded with four 
 bullets, and Richards escaping uninjured. 
 
 Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt, pp. 368-372. 
 
 THE FATEFUL NIGHT OF JUNE 27, 1844 
 
 By Mrs. George A. Smith 
 
 On the evening of the 27th of June such a barking and howling 
 of dogs and bellowing of cattle all over the city of Nauvoo I never 
 heard before or since. I was at Brother David Smith's house. I 
 knelt down and tried to pray for the prophet, but I was struck 
 speechless, and knew not the cause till morning, of course the 
 awful deed was already accomplished, when the spirit refused to 
 give me utterance to prayer the evening before. The next day the 
 bodies were brought and conveyed to the mansion. Here I witnessed 
 the awful scene — the Prophet and Patriarch lying in their gore 
 and thousands of men, women, and children weeping all around. 
 
 Juvenile Instructor, 27 'All; 
 Nauvoo the Beautiful, p. 157. 
 
 By Sylvia C. Webb : I can remember (I shall never forget) the 
 day when Joseph and Hyrum were assassinated at Carthage. It 
 was the darkest day of my life. No scene before or since has struck 
 such a terror to my heart. Joseph, when living, often patted my 
 head and said, "You're a little Ephraimite. ,, How I loved that 
 man ! And I know now even as I knew then that he was a man of 
 God, a true prophet. 
 
 The Saints' Herald, March 24, 1915; Nauvoo the Beautiful, p. 152. 
 
 HOW THE SAINTS MOURNED FOR THE PROPHET JOSEPH 
 
 By Franklin D. Richards 
 
 Back in the days when the Prophet Joseph was slain, and the 
 Church was left without him here upon the earth, the whole people 
 mourned — mourned as we have never known how to mourn since. 
 
260 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 I want to tell you Saints that felt you mourned when President 
 Young died, when President Taylor died, or now that President 
 Woodruff has departed from us, it is no such mourning as was felt 
 through all Nauvoo, and among all the Saints when the Prophet 
 and Patriarch were slain. It just seemed as if everything around 
 us, even the animals, the trees and the habitations, were clothed 
 in mourning. We felt his absence, because he was to us instead of 
 God. He directed us in everything, taught us in all the great prin- 
 ciples that pertain to our salvation and exaltation throughout all 
 this mortal existence and clear into the eternities. Anybody that 
 has the spirit of revelation, and who will read the last revelation 
 that he gave us, cannot help but wonder and admire, and compre- 
 hend something of the great mind and capacity of soul that he had 
 acquired during his short experience, in the gospel, of twenty-four 
 years here in the flesh. 
 
 Now, when he was taken away, it was the first great and 
 terrible experience in that line, and there was no rule left when 
 the church organization should be perfected. Let me cite you to 
 a few facts in connection with this. When that event occurred, 
 the apostles were all away throughout the United States, on mis- 
 sions, except John Taylor and Willard Richards. They were in 
 prison with the Prophet Joseph. President Taylor was shot nearly 
 to pieces, so that he had like to have died, according to all human 
 appearance. Willard just lost a drop of blood from one of his ears ; 
 a ball whistled so near that it broke his skin and let a drop of 
 blood mingle with the others. The Prophet Brigham was in Boston, 
 with Apostle Woodruff. It was a sad and sorrowful time. Immed- 
 iately the Prophet Joseph was slain, one man and another, and 
 another, who had been taught by him to comprehend some great 
 principles of the Gospel, came to feel so important that one man 
 said, since Joseph was dead there was no man living to whom he 
 owed allegiance. He, therefore, in the greatness of his self-impor- 
 tance, gathered up his family, with a few others, and went away 
 to Texas. Lyman Wight was this man, whose cognomen among 
 the twelve was "the wild ram of the mountain." By and by one of 
 his sons returned to us. Another man, Alpheus Cutler, in the 
 greatness of his experience and self-sufficiency, took his family 
 and some friends and went to a northern state, making a camp of 
 his own, ready to build up a city, a people, a nation, and become 
 a prophet. George Miller, one of the presiding bishops, also started, 
 with a few and went off among the Pancho Indians. Another one, 
 James J. Strang, who thought he had the thing fixed so it had 
 come to stay, went off with a few to Beaver Island, in Lake Mich- 
 igan, and carried on his operations for a while, till, by and by, one 
 of his followers sickened of him and assassinated him. This is the 
 way these great men, w r ho thought they were somebody, have gone 
 in the strength of their own endowments, feeling themselves as 
 great as Joseph the Prophet. How was it, when the Prophet Brig- 
 ham came back to Nauvoo, that he realized that the powders of the 
 priesthood and the keys thereof had come down upon him? He 
 went and stood in his place. Sidney Rigdon w 7 anted to become a 
 "guardian" to the church, to guide and lead them till they should 
 
THE SORROW AND MOURNING OF THE SAINTS 261 
 
 see Joseph again. And thus, one after another, these different influ- 
 ences wrought. About this time, too, to fill up the cup and make it 
 run over, and to accomplish the wickedness of the world, a mob 
 got around and forced the twelve, when they got back to Nauvoo, 
 to enter into an agreement with them that they and the people 
 would get up and leave the country. This they did. They made 
 their arrangements, and, as quick as we could finish the temple 
 and get the blessings of the Lord upon us, the Saints started out 
 into the wilderness to find a country as far from civilization as they 
 could. 
 
 The Prophet Joseph had a feeling or a premonition of what 
 might be, and we find it on the record of his history that he felt 
 forebodings that he might not stay to see that temple completed. 
 He took the twelve aside — those who were faithful — and he gave 
 them their endowments in a holy place, in a new building that he 
 consecrated for that purpose. He placed upon them the keys, author- 
 ity and powers which the Lord and the angels had conferred upon 
 him. You recollect that John the Baptist came and ordained Joseph 
 and Oliver to the Aaronic Priesthood. Peter, James and John came 
 and ordained him and Oliver unto the Melchizedek Priesthood — 
 the holy apostleship. In the temple at Kirtland, Moses, Elias and 
 Elijah appeared and conferred upon him the keys of the gathering 
 of Israel, of the Gospel of Abraham, and of the turning of the 
 hearts of the fathers to the children and the children to their 
 fathers. Joseph called the brethren aside and placed all these keys, 
 powers and blessings that he had received upon them. You have 
 heard President Woodruff testify of this, and of the great work and 
 marvelous power thereof. Well, these things bestowed upon the 
 brethren caused some men to become headstrong, and in view of 
 what they knew, they thought they could build up the church unto 
 God, build up the kingdom of God, and stand at the head of it 
 themselves. 
 
 While this was going on the powers of the priesthood rested 
 down upon the Twelve Apostles, and President Young always 
 took pains to have a majority of them within reach, where he could 
 arrange for any decisions that he found it necessary to make. He 
 had a great vision, in which Joseph said to us, through him : "Get 
 the holy spirit and keep it." That is a great injunction that is upon 
 us all. If we want to go where these men are, we must get the 
 holy spirit and walk in the light of it. After he and the pioneers 
 had been out here and had found this place for us to come and live 
 in, and then went back to the Mississippi river, in Winter Quarters, 
 the spirit of the Lord, the revelation of the Lord, came upon him. 
 It was about two years and a half, on that occasion, that the Church 
 had been without a first presidency, till the Lord made manifest 
 to them in Winter Quarters, about December, 1847, that the organi- 
 zation should be completed. There being no good place for it, they 
 picked out men and set them to work to build a tabernacle in 
 Kanesville for the conference. At that conference the first presi- 
 dency was accepted, and, according to the dictation of the revela- 
 tion, they, Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball and Willard Richards, 
 were upheld by the unanimous consent and voice and prayers of 
 
262 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 God's people. Thus the first great calamity to the Church was 
 remedied, and the fullness of the presidency was again restored. 
 
 Millennial Star, 61:147-49. 
 
 MEMORIES OF AURELIA S. ROGERS 
 
 "It is generally known that our enemies seeing the prosperity 
 of the Saints began to hunt up excuses for serving writs on the 
 leading members of the Church; and that this was the cause of 
 some of the brethren going to prison, while others hid themselves 
 to keep out of their enemies' way, similar to what they have been 
 doing of late years, with this difference, polygamy was not the 
 offense at that time, but hatred toward the Prophet because of 
 the religion the Lord had revealed to him. This persecution lasted 
 until the massacre of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, after which there 
 was comparative peace for over a year. 
 
 "Well do I remember the morning after the martyrdom of those 
 noble men. A gloom was cast over the whole city of Nauvoo, men, 
 women and children wept for their departed Prophet and Patri- 
 arch. I witnessed the long procession that followed the bodies of 
 our beloved leaders as they were taken to Joseph's Mansion, where 
 they laid in state until the people could take a last look at them 
 and say farewell. My father lifted me thru one of the windows 
 of the Mansion as the doorways were thronged with people, when 
 after viewing the bodies I was passed again and taken home." 
 
 Life Sketches, by Aurelia S. Rogers, pp. 31-32. 
 
 THE SORROW AND GLOOM ON THE DAY OF 
 THE MARTYRDOM 
 
 By Louisa Barnes Pratt 
 
 In the spring of '44, I took up a school in my own house. It 
 was attended with great difficulty, and confusion, being a crowded 
 school in a small room. But it brought me in a little. There were 
 continual hostilities in Nauvoo from either one source or another. 
 Brother Joseph Smith went with his wife to Dixon, an adjoining 
 county, to visit his wife's relatives. Officers from Missouri were 
 lying in wait to kidnap and take him across the river, for which 
 they were to receive a reward. They started with him, called at 
 a public house for the night, ivhen he made signs to the landlord 
 that he ivas a free mason. He was immediately taken out of their 
 custody, the two men were arrested for assault and battery, and 
 brought to Nauvoo in chains. There was great excitement when it 
 was reported that the Prophet was returning, bringing his enemies 
 as prisoners. Lawyer Dixon attended Mr. Smith on his w r ay home ; 
 and addressed a crowded assembly in his behalf, while the two 
 prisoners were sitting by his side on the stand. After the exercises, 
 which were exciting in the extreme, Mr. Smith invited, or rather, 
 conveyed the prisoners to his house, took off their shackles, seated 
 them at his table with his wife and mother, treated them as friends 
 instead of enemies. He gave them their liberty. They went to 
 
THE SORROW AND MOURNING OF THE SAINTS 263 
 
 Carthage and cursed their bad luck in not getting their prey across 
 the river and receiving their booty, so little did unmerited kind- 
 ness humble their proud hearts. 
 
 It was eventually announced that the government of the state 
 had taken up arms against the citizens of Nauvoo; and Joseph 
 Smith was summoned to Carthage to be tried for treason. The 
 governor pledged the faith of the state that he should have a fair 
 and impartial trial. He at first seemed unwilling to go, but being 
 urged by some who had more confidence in the governor's promise, 
 he consented. He was heard to say as he rode on the way: "I am 
 going like a lamb to the slaughter, henceforth it will be said of 
 me, 'He was murdered in cold blood.' " On the morning preceding 
 the murder, the governor rode into Nauvoo with troops, made a 
 speech to the people, in which he railed them in a sarcastic manner 
 for carrying arms. 
 
 While the governor was speaking, the report of guns was heard 
 from Carthage. He was in bold terms affirming that Gen. Smith's 
 going to Carthage, according to demand, had saved the city from 
 being burned and the women and children from being put to the 
 sword and perishing by it. The moment the guns were heard, he 
 dismissed the assembly abruptly, jumped on his horse and rode 
 away, as if fearing the people would divine the import and he would 
 be in danger in spite of his troops. He continued his journey, not 
 even stopping in Carthage to witness the bloody deed committed ; 
 not halting till he had gone twenty-five miles beyond that place. 
 The brethren went with great speed to the spot, anticipating the 
 tragedy. The citizens were greatly terrified, supposing the exasper- 
 ated Mormons would burn the town, but so intense was their 
 sorrow, revenge found no place in their hearts. Dumb with anguish, 
 even to profound silence, they laid the dead bodies of the two noble 
 martyrs in a wagon and drove solemnly towards the city where 
 thousands were watching in breathless sorrow for their return. 
 
 Such consternation ivas never known since tine rocks were 
 rent, and the sun darkened, when Christ the Lamb ivas slain! 
 Had the sun and moon fallen from their orbits and left the world in 
 total darkness, it would not have betokened a more irretrievable 
 de spoliation! I thought the Church was ruined forever! I rushed 
 into my garden when the news ivas confirmed and poured out my 
 soul in such bitterness as I had never felt before. The inconceivable 
 cruelty of our enemies! 
 
 This was the 28th of June, 1844. At dusk a report came that 
 a thousand dollar reward was offered for the head of the Prophet, 
 and that the mob was at Warsaw, coming across the river! The 
 Legion was called out in the night. Such a tramping of horses was 
 heard, the bass drum beat with astonishing loudness, every blow 
 seemed to strike on my heart, and did really inflict pain, so dread- 
 ful was my fear. It was a still night, and the moon was at the full. 
 A night of death it seemed, and everything conspired to make it 
 solemn! The voices of the officers were heard calling the men 
 together and coming in the distance made it fall on the heart like a 
 funeral knell. The women were assembled in groups, weeping and 
 
264 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 praying, some wishing terrible punishment on the murderers; 
 others acknowledging the hand of God in the event. 
 
 I could feel no anger or resentment. I felt the deepest humility 
 before God. I thought continually of his words : "Be still and know 
 that I am God." My children clung to me with great fear. They 
 heard talk of hiding them in case the mob should come in. The 
 question arose, where could we hide them? A deep cellar was 
 suggested, a trap door and carpet overspread. They shuddered at 
 the thought of being concealed in such a place. We concluded to 
 take our chances together and trust in the Lord. I went to bed, but 
 not to sleep. I could hear the men on parade; my whole system 
 was in agitation. I arose in the morning with great prostration 
 and walked my room to and fro. 
 
 Later I awakened the children, told them to dress and we 
 would go and see the bodies of our dead leaders. It was the day 
 appointed, and to appearance all the world was there ! The Saints 
 had assembled from the settlements abroad through the country. 
 The coffins were placed in a long hall in the Mansion House, a door 
 at each end. The multitude was required to pass through, looking 
 at the corpses as they passed. This occupied the time from early 
 sunrise till dusky evening. The features of Joseph Smith looked 
 natural, but those of Hyrum were terribly marred and disfigured. 
 My second daughter trembled exceedingly at sight of him. I 
 regretted having brought her there to witness the spectacle. The 
 elder one grieved as we all did, but betrayed less excitement. The 
 bodies were conveyed, whither we knew not. 
 
 When the solemn event took place, the Twelve Apostles were 
 nearly all absent. They soon returned, and we were all anxiety to 
 know what they would say. President Brigham Young spoke words 
 which pierced my heart like a dagger ! Said he, "Had I been here, 
 Joseph should not have gone to Carthage !" The bare idea that 
 any one, or many, had been in fault was terrible to me. Had Joseph 
 given the command, every man, woman and child would have 
 stood in his defense, even to the loss of their own lives. Afterwards 
 brother Willard Richards rehearsed what transpired at Carthage 
 jail. He said everything to console the people; what it was to 
 accomplish a purpose in the Almighty as disposer of events; re- 
 ferred to many remarks of the Prophet Joseph during his confine- 
 ment, showing that he was aware of his approaching dissolution; 
 of the hymns they sang in prison, and how calm he was. 
 
 From that hour I watched for words of comfort, and drank 
 them in as I would an antidote to relieve pain. The enemies stood 
 afar off and wondered; seemed waiting to see if the saints would 
 seek to revenge the wrongs done them. When they found it was 
 not the design of the injured, they again began their aggressions. 
 In the meantime, the work on the Temple rolled on with astonishing 
 rapidity. Everyone seemed inspired with renewed vigor and deter- 
 mination to have the Lord's house completed, and their blessings 
 received, before being compelled to leave the place which was soon 
 anticipated after the tragedy. 
 
 There was no lack of evidence in regard to the perpetrators 
 of the bloody deed. I was intimately acquainted with one Miss 
 
THE SORROW AND MOURNING OF THE SAINTS 265 
 
 Graham, a truthful, amiable girl who was living with an aunt of 
 hers in Warsaw at the time. She testified that the mobbers ate 
 supper at the Hotel where she lived that night on their return 
 from the scene of action, and that she heard certain individuals, 
 calling them by name, boast of their conquest, killing prisoners in 
 jail. One says: "It was my rifle that did the deed;" another, "It 
 was mine." And thus they exulted in the committal of as black- 
 hearted a crime as ever stained the annals of history! Was the 
 testimony heeded by the judges? It was not. 
 
 Mormondom's First Woman Missionary, pp. 230-32. 
 
 THE LORD PROTECTED THE SAINTS IN NAUVOO 
 
 From the Diary of Electa C. Williams 
 September 1, 1943 
 
 The night after Joseph and Hyrum were killed, the mob went 
 to Golden Point to set fire to the city of Nauvoo, and burn the bodies 
 of those martyred. Brother Andrus returned home. He was taken 
 sick while away. All the family were on guard, my husband with 
 the rest. The bass drums were to be beat if any thing alarming 
 should occur before midnight. We heard from the men, saying: 
 "Run, the mob are upon us." The drums were beating violently. 
 The dogs began barking and the cattle looking in every direction. 
 What a night with flashing and vivid lightning and distant thunder 
 in the heavens. Above us we discovered a small cloud. It followed 
 the Mississippi, kept spreading as if to gather the whole waters of 
 that noble river. The mob were marching onward to their destined 
 point of slaughter when the rain began pouring, destroying their 
 ammunition, drenching them to the skin, and killing some of them. 
 The mob was glad to retreat. Thus the Lord on that day fought the 
 battle of the Saints, never to be forgotten by those who were an 
 eye witness of such a scene. The Lord has promised to fight the 
 battles of his people. 
 
 Copied at the home of Lettie M. Berrett, Pleasant View, Weber Co., Utah. 
 
 THE WAILING OF THE SAINTS AT THE MARTYRDOM 
 
 On the 20th of June Brother Joseph sent word to all the apos- 
 tles to return home immediately ; and on the 24th he, with seventeen 
 others, went to Carthage. At this time I was living at Big Mound, 
 an English settlement about eight miles from Nauvoo, and there, 
 while engaged in putting in sod corn I heard of the Prophet's and 
 Hyrum's death. The next morning I started to Carthage with those 
 who went after the bodies. We met them on the road, Dr. Richards 
 having dressed the wounds of John Taylor and started for Nauvoo 
 with Joseph's and Hyrum's bodies. 
 
 The wailing of the Saints when they saw the martyrs was 
 terrible. Ten thousand people were addressed by Apostle Richards, 
 who admonished them to keep the peace and trust to the law for a 
 remedy for the awful crimes which had been committed, and if the 
 law failed, to call upon God in heaven to avenge us of our wrongs. 
 The bodies were placed in coffins, the funeral was held, while deep 
 grief filled our hearts and sorrow rested heavily upon us — a stricken 
 
266 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 people. The woe of the Saints cannot be described. Our Prophet 
 and Patriarch dead, only two of the apostles with us and one of 
 them supposed to be dying, and all this time we were in constant 
 expectation of an attack by the mob army. 
 
 Our enemies were sure now that they had destroyed the gospel 
 work, but it still lives and will live, for it is the eternal work of 
 God, and I here bear my testimony that I know that Joseph Smith, 
 who established it, was a Prophet holy and pure. 
 
 Like sheep without a shepherd, we felt lost and bewildered, 
 and seriously we discussed the question: "Who was highest in 
 authority? Who held the keys of the kingdom ?" On August 6th 
 the apostles arrived from the East, while we were still uncertain 
 about choosing a guardian of the Church and it was a great relief 
 to greet them among us. A council of the priesthood was called and 
 it was not long before, with the Twelve at the head, we felt that 
 all things would be managed and directed aright. In the person of 
 the President of the Twelve, Brigham Young, we knew that a great 
 character had arisen, to build upon the foundation laid by Joseph 
 Smith, a kingdom whose equal "there never was in the world." 
 Now feeling at peace, we pursued our usual work : the work on the 
 Temple was pushed forward as rapidly as possible. 
 
 Life of Christopher Layton, pp. 20-22. 
 
 THE POWERS OF DARKNESS PREVAILED 
 
 The death of Joseph and Hyrum was a dreadful blow to the 
 people. They had felt towards Joseph as we imagine the disciples 
 of Jesus, when he was upon the earth, felt towards him. You 
 recollect that when the Savior was crucified two of them said : "We 
 trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel." 
 They had expected Joseph would live to lead the people until Zion 
 should be redeemed. They were fully aware of the hatred of the 
 mob, of the blood-thirsty disposition which Joseph's enemies had 
 towards him; but he had escaped so many times from their traps 
 that they hoped he would escape again as he had in times past. 
 They knew his innocence of every charge brought against him, and 
 they had confidence that no court could, with the least degree of 
 fairness, convict him of any wrong doing. The thought of his being 
 killed by his enemies had not entered into the minds of the majority 
 of the people, the news of his death, therefore, fell upon them with 
 stunning and overwhelming effect, and they were almost crushed 
 by the dreadful intelligence. Oh, how dark and gloomy was that 
 day at Nauvoo. The night after the murder, and before the word 
 had come from Carthage, was one of horror to many. Numbers 
 arose from sleepless couches to go forth and relate to their neigh- 
 bor the singular feelings they had through the night. But when 
 they emerged from their dwellings and heard the dreadful tidings 
 that Joseph and Hyrum had been slain, that John Taylor had been 
 desperately wounded and Willard Richards had barely escaped, the 
 cheeks of all were blanched, and the breath suspended, as they 
 listened to the tale of horror. It was too horrible to believe that 
 lives of such purity had been quenched in blood. The wailings and 
 lamentations of the whole people ascended to heaven on that day. 
 
THE SORROW AND MOURNING OF THE SAINTS 267 
 
 On the day of the murder of the Prophet and Patriarch, those 
 of the Twelve Apostles who were on missions, as well as other 
 elders, had warnings that something dreadful had happened. They 
 felt cast down and a spell of horror seemed to rest upon them. 
 Some wept without knowing why they should do so, except that they 
 were filled with unaccountable sadness and gloom. The succeeding 
 night was a miserable one to them. When they received the news 
 of the death of Joseph and Hyrum the cause of these feelings was 
 explained, though it was difficult then for several of them to believe 
 that they were dead. 
 
 Life of the Prophet Joseph, by George Q. Cannon, Instructor, Vol. 14. 
 
 I LONG FOR MY REST, SAID THE PROPHET 
 
 By Benjamin F. Johnson 
 
 "Oh! I am so tired — so tired that I often feel to long for my 
 day of rest. For what has there been in this life but tribulation for 
 me? From a boy I have been persecuted by my enemies, and now 
 even my friends are beginning to join them, to hate and persecute 
 me ! Why should I not wish for my time of rest?" 
 
 His words to me were ominous, and they brought a shadow as 
 of death over my spirit, and I said: "Oh, Joseph! how could you 
 think of leaving us? How as a people could we do without you?" He 
 saw my feelings were sorrowful and said kindly* "Bennie, if I were 
 on the other side of the veil I could do many times more for my 
 friends than I can do while I am with them here." But the iron 
 had gone into my soul, and I felt that in his words there was a 
 meaning that boded sorrow, and I could not forget them.**** 
 
 After returning to Macedonia I saw no more of Brothers 
 Joseph and Hyrum, but learned early on June 28th of their assas- 
 sination. To attempt to delineate the feelings of woe and unutter- 
 able sorrow that swelled every heart too full for tears, I need not 
 attempt. I stood up, dazed with grief, could groan but could not 
 weep. The fountain of tears was dry! "Oh, God! what will thy 
 orphan church and people now do !" was the only feeling or thought 
 that now burst out in groans. 
 
 I did not go to see their mutilated bodies. I had no wish to 
 look into their grave ; I knew they were- not there, and the words 
 of Brother Joseph began to come back to me : "I could do so much 
 more for my friends if I were on the other side of the veil." These 
 words — "my friends" — oh, how glad that he was my friend. These 
 thoughts gradually gained the empire in my heart, and I began to 
 realize that in his martyrdom there was a great eternal purpose 
 in the heavens. But we were not able, as yet, to comprehend such 
 a necessity. I could begin now to feel just what he meant, and his 
 words, "do for my friends" to me, were like the promise of Jesus 
 to provide mansions for his disciples that they might be with him 
 always. These things now were my consolation, and when I could 
 begin to rejoice in them, the fountains of my tears began to flow, 
 and I grew in consolation from day to day. 
 
 My Life's Review, pp. 97, 102. 
 
CHAPTER 14 
 
 The Identity and Trial of the Murderers 
 
 AFFIDAVIT OF WILLIAM M. DANIELS 
 
 State of Illinois, 
 
 ;! 
 
 Hancock County, I ss * 
 
 On the 4th day of July, 1844, came William M. Daniels before 
 me, Aaron Johnson, a justice of the peace within and for said coun- 
 ty, and after being duly sworn, deposeth and saith that on Saturday, 
 the 22nd day of June, 1844, he came to the town of Warsaw, in said 
 county of Hancock, and continued there until the Thursday follow- 
 ing, the 27th day of June ; that on that morning your affiant joined 
 the rifle company commanded by Jacob Davis ; that the lieutenant 
 
 and Chittenden, Esq., said that as the governor would 
 
 be absent from Carthage that day, that they would send ten men 
 from each of the two companies to join the Carthage Greys, and 
 kill the two Generals Smith, and if the governor opposed, to kill 
 him too; that among those twenty men were Mr. Houck, a tailor, 
 and Mr. Stephens, a cooper ; the rest of the two companies marched 
 towards Golden's Point to the railroad crossing, when they were 
 met by the governor's order to disband all the troops, and Colonel 
 Williams disbanded them. 
 
 That then the captains called them to order, saying they had 
 no command over them, but wished them to form in line, which 
 they did; that then Mr. Sharp, the editor of the Warsatv Signal, 
 urged by a speech the necessity of killing the two Smiths, and a vote 
 was then called who would go and do it. 
 
 Captain Davis and about twenty men went home, the residue, 
 eighty-four men, went to Carthage, having six runners ahead to 
 stop the twenty men who had before started for Carthage. 
 
 Soon after they started, one of the Carthage Greys met them 
 with a letter, saying it was a most delightful time, the governor 
 had gone, they could now kill Joseph and Hyrum Smith, and must 
 do it quick before the governor returned ; that they then turned to 
 the left between the Warsaw and Nauvoo roads, and were not seen 
 again by your affiant till they arrived at the jail in Carthage; that 
 among the names of those who committed the murder at the jail 
 in Carthage, Hancock county aforesaid, on the 27th day of June, 
 1844, at about 5 o'clock and 20 minutes, was Colonel Levi Williams, 
 
 of Green Plains precinct, Captain Wires, Chittenden, 
 
 Esq., of Warsaw. Houck, the tailor, Captain Grovenor, 
 
 three brothers by the name of Stephens, coopers, Allen, 
 
 a cooper, all of Warsaw, and a man by the name of Mills, who was 
 wounded in the right arm. 
 
 That your affiant would further state that this company before 
 mentioned were painted black; that the guns of the guard at the 
 
THE IDENTITY AND TRIAL OF THE MURDERERS 269 
 
 jail were loaded with blank cartridges; that this was an arrange- 
 ment entered into by the Carthage Greys, as said the messenger 
 who came to meet said company in the morning. 
 
 That your said affiant saw Joseph Smith leap from the win- 
 dow of the jail, and that one of the company picked him up and 
 placed him against the well curb, and several shot him, Colonel 
 Williams exclaiming, Shoot him! Damn him! Shoot him! and 
 further your affiant saith not. [Signed] William M. Daniels. 
 
 D. H. C. pp. 162-63. 
 
 IDENTITY OF THE MEMBERS OF THE MOB 
 
 The following letter from Sheriff J. B. Backenstos to Brigham 
 Young, dated June 29, 1844 : 
 
 ROLL OF CARTHAGE GREYS AND OFFICERS JUNE 27th, A. D. 1844 
 
 Robert F. Smith, Captain 
 F. A. Worrell, 
 S. O. Williams, 
 M. Barnes, Jun. 
 
 Lieutenants 
 
 Guard at the Jail, June 27, 1844 
 
 F. A. Worrell, officer of the guard Joseph Hawley, lives in Carthage, 
 
 Franklin Rhodes Illinois 
 
 William Baldwin Anthony Barkman, lives in Carth- 
 
 Levi Street, lives near Mendon, age, Illinois 
 Adams county, Illinois Clabourn Wilson, lives in Carthage, 
 
 Illinois 
 
 Balance of (Company of) Greys 
 
 Edwin Baldwin, lives near Carth- Frederick Loring, lives in Carth- 
 age, Illinois age, Illinois 
 
 James D. Barnes, lives near Carth- Leyrand Doolittle, lives in Carth- 
 age, Illinois age, Illinois 
 
 Marvin Hamilton, lives in Carthage Lewis C. Stevenson, lives in Carth- 
 Ebenezer Rand, lives in Carthage age 
 
 John W. Maith, lives in Carthage Noah M. Rekard, lives in Carthage 
 
 Thomas Griffith, lives in Carthage Eli H. Williams, lives in Carthage 
 
 H. T. Wilson, lives in Carthage 
 Albert Thompson, lives in Carthage, Illinois 
 Walter Bagby, left the country, gone to Louisiana, and died 
 George C. Waggoner, lives 2% miles north of Carthage 
 Crockett Wilson, lives 8 miles east of Carthage 
 Thomas J. Dale, lives 5 miles east of Carthage 
 Richard Dale, lives 5 miles east of Carthage 
 
 The Carthage Greys never numbered more than about thirty, rank and 
 file; during the June mob war, several joined for the time only, who reside 
 at other places, and whose names are unknown to me. The Carthage Greys 
 were nearly to a man parties in the June massacre. 
 
 Green Plains 
 
 Captain Weir's company of about sixty men 
 
 Warsaw 
 
 Captain J. C. Davis' company of about sixty men 
 Captain Wm. N. Grover's company of about sixty men 
 Captain Mark Aldrich's company of about sixty men, comprising the 
 entire settlement in and about Warsaw and Green Plains, with the exception 
 
270 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 of the Walkers, Gillhams, Paytons, Bledsors, Gallahers, Byrrs, Kimballs, 
 Worthens, Summervilles, and Bedells, and the Mormon families who resided 
 in that part of the county at that time. 
 
 Those active in the massacre at Carthage — supplied by Sheriff J. B. Backenstos 
 
 The leaders of the Hancock mob, and those who took an active part in 
 the massacre of Joseph and Hyrum Smith are- 
 Thomas C. Sharp, Warsaw Signal, Illinois, editor 
 Colonel Levi Williams, Green Plains, Illinois, farmer 
 William N. Grover, Warsaw, Illinois, lawyer 
 Jacob C. Davis, Warsaw, Illinois, lawyer 
 Mark Aldrich, Warsaw, Illinois, no business 
 Henry Stephens, Warsaw, Illinois, lawyer 
 George Rockwell, Warsaw, Illinois, druggist 
 James H. Wood, Warsaw, Illinois, blacksmith 
 Calvin Cole, Warsaw, Illinois, tavernkeeper 
 William B. Chipley, Warsaw, Illinois, doctor 
 
 Hays, Warsaw, Illinois, doctor 
 
 J. D. Mellen, Warsaw, Illinois, merchant 
 E. W. Gould, Warsaw, Illinois, merchant 
 Samuel Fleming, Warsaw, Illinois, constable 
 John Montague, Warsaw, Illinois, no business 
 Jas. Gregg, Warsaw, Illinois, no business 
 J. C. Elliott, Warsaw, Illinois, no business 
 Lyman Prentiss, Warsaw, Illinois, no business 
 
 D. W. Matthews, now St. Louis, Missouri, merchant 
 J. B. Matthews, now St. Louis, Missouri, merchant 
 Trueman Hosford, Warsaw, Illinois, farmer 
 
 Four of the Chittendens, Warsaw, Illinois, different occupations 
 
 J. W. Athey, Warsaw, Illinois, no business 
 
 Onias C. Skinner, now of Quincy, Illinois, lawyer 
 
 Calvin A. Warren, Quincy, Illinois, lawyer 
 
 George W. Thatcher, Carthage, Illinois, county clerk 
 
 James W. Brattle, Carthage, Illinois, land shark 
 
 Alexander Sympson, Carthage, Illinois, land shark 
 
 Jason H. Sherman, Carthage, Illinois, lawyer 
 
 Michael Reckard, one-half mile west of Carthage, Illinois, farmer 
 
 Thomas Morrison, Carthage, Illinois, lawyer 
 
 E. S. Freeman, Carthage, Illinois, blacksmith 
 Thomas L. Barnes, Carthage, Illinois, quack doctor 
 John Wilson, Carthage, Illinois, tavernkeeper 
 Edward Jones, 5 miles north of Carthage, farmer 
 Captain James E. Dunn, Augusta, Illinois, tavernkeeper 
 Joel Catlin, Augusta, Illinois, farmer, etc. 
 
 William D. Abernethy, Augusta, Illinois, farmer, etc. 
 Erastus Austin, constable, etc. 
 
 Austin, loafer 
 
 Reuben Graves, St. Mary's, Illinois, farmer 
 Henry Garnett, St. Mary's, Illinois, farmer 
 
 F. J. Bartlett, St. Mary's, Illinois, miller 
 Valentine Wilson, St. Mary's, Illinois, farmer 
 Sylvester M. Bartlett, editor of the Quincy Whig 
 Major W. B. Warren, a damned villian 
 
 Colonel Gettis, Fountain Green, Illinois, farmer 
 
 Matthews McClaughny, Fountain Green, Illinois, farmer 
 Nickerson Wright, Fountain Green, Illinois, farmer 
 
 John McAuley, Camp Creek Precinct, Illinois, one of the worst men in 
 Hancock 
 
 William H. Rollason, Pontusuc, Illinois 
 John M. Finch, Pontusuc, Illinois 
 Francis M. Higbee, Pontusuc, Illinois 
 
 Douglas, Pontusuc, Illinois, schoolmaster 
 
 George Backman, one of the Durfee murderers 
 Moss or Morse,- one of the Durfee murderers 
 
THE IDENTITY AND TRIAL OF THE MURDERERS 271 
 
 Jacob Beck, one of the Durfee murderers 
 
 Backman lives in Carthage, Moss or Morse, and Jacob Beck have left 
 the country, but expect to return. 
 
 The foregoing is a pretty large list; there are others of the smaller fry 
 which I deem unworthy of notice, inasmuch as they were led on through the 
 influence of the leaders, and whiskey. I most cheerfully give you any informa- 
 tion in my power in reference to this matter; the only thing that I regret 
 about is, that these things I am fearful will be put off so long that I will not 
 live to see or hear of the awful vengeance which will in the end overtake 
 the Hancock assassins. I have long been of the opinion that forbearance is 
 no longer a virtue, let the guilty be made to answer for their crimes. Let 
 justice be done, and all will be well. 
 
 The bloodhounds are still determined on taking my life; I can hear from 
 them every once in a while. I will have to be exceedingly careful this sum- 
 mer, or they will have my scalp. They still act upon the principle that had 
 it not been for me in September last, Worrell and McBradney would not have 
 been killed, and the city of Nauvoo burned to the ground. They want to hold 
 me responsible for everything that was done to put them down in their mob 
 doings last year. 
 
 LIST OF THE MOB AT CARTHAGE ACCORDING TO 
 WILLARD RICHARDS 
 
 'William Law Wm. A. Rollason 
 
 Wilson Law Wm. H. J. Marr 
 
 Robert D. Foster S. M. Marr 
 
 Charles A. Foster Sylvester Emmons 
 
 Francis M. Higbee Alexander Sympson 
 
 Chauncey L. Higbee John Eagle 
 
 Joseph H. Jackson Henry O. Norton 
 
 John M. Finch Augustine Spencer 
 
 The foregoing have been aided and abetted by — Charles Ivins and family, 
 P. T. Rolfe, N. J. Higbee. 
 
 William Cook, and Sarah, his wife, formerly Sarah Crooks, of Man- 
 chester.' D.H.C.: 142-46. 
 
 EVERY STATE OF THE UNION WAS REPRESENTED 
 
 IN THE MOB 
 
 By Brigham Young 
 
 The mob that collected at Carthage, Illinois, to commit that 
 deed of blood contained a delegation representing every State in 
 the Union. Each has received its blood stain. In the perpetration 
 of this great national sin, they acted upon their own free volition 
 which God implanted within them, as much so as if they had been 
 willing to hearken to the advice of the Prophet and his friends 
 when they showed them how to preserve the nation from destruc- 
 tion, how to do good to all, and how to introduce every holy prin- 
 ciple that is calculated to bless and exalt a people. But, said they, 
 "We will not hearken to the counsels of this man;" for, like the 
 Jews of old, they were afraid if they let him live he would take 
 away their place and nation. They not only feared the principles 
 which he taught, but they feared the increasing numbers which 
 followed him; they feared that if they let him alone he would in- 
 corporate in his religion all the religion there is that is good for 
 anything, or that is according to the Bible, and all the honest, 
 truthful and virtuous of the nation, they feared, would follow him ; 
 
272 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 and they feared that thereby they would be deprived of their rich 
 emoluments and livings, so they concluded to get rid of him by 
 slaying him. * * * If they had hearkened to the counsel of Joseph 
 Smith, this nation would have had no wars; there would have 
 been no division in the Government, but it would have gone on in 
 harmony and prosperity. j.d. 12: 121. 
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR THE TRIAL 
 
 Letter written to Josiah Lamborn, Attorney General of Illinois 
 
 Review of difficulties attendant upon collection of evidence for the 
 prospective trial of those charged with the murder of the Prophet and 
 Patriarch Joseph and Hyrum Smith. 
 
 Sir : We are this evening informed by Mr. Scott that it is your 
 wish as prosecuting attorney vs. the murderers of the Generals 
 Smith that the Mormons should hunt up the witnesses in the case, 
 and that Mr. Murray McConnell had conveyed the idea that there 
 was a committee in the county whose business it was to collect and 
 arrange the testimony against the day of trial and that said com- 
 mittee are supposed to be Mormons, etc. etc. 
 
 Now, Sir, in behalf of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day 
 Saints ; or, if you choose, the Mormon fraternity, we beg leave to 
 state to you, what has been often reiterated by us, and which is a 
 well known fact, both to our people and the state, viz: that the 
 difficulty causing the pending trials is not between the Mormons 
 and anti-Mormons; nor between the Mormons and the murderers; 
 but it is between the state and the prisoners or offenders. 
 
 The facts are, the Messrs. Smiths were murdered while in the 
 charge of the state, relying on the plighted faith of the state for 
 protection, and not in the presence of Mormon witnesses, for the 
 Mormons were not there, but doubtless in the presence of many 
 who were not Mormons. 
 
 To show our loyalty to the institutions of our country and 
 preserve peace in the country, as a people, we pledged ourselves to 
 abide the operations of the law as directed by the proper authori- 
 ties of the commonwealth; and that we would abide the decisions 
 of the court, not taking vengeance into our own hands, (as was 
 then feared by some) or commencing prosecutions, to which we 
 have strictly adhered, and intend still to adhere, that our pledge 
 may be honorably redeemed in the sight of all men, although we 
 have been strongly solicited to enter the field of prosecution, and 
 that, too, by the state or her agents: for instance when Mr. Mc- 
 Connell was engaged in preparation for the prosecution he came 
 to Nauvoo and strongly solicited the Mormons to come out as com- 
 plainants and assist in procuring witnesses, etc.; but we replied 
 that we had had nothing to do with the affair, and wanted nothing 
 to do with it; and for us to enlist in attempting to bring the mur- 
 derers to justice, no matter how legal in our movements, it would 
 be construed into a persecution, or a desire to pick a quarrel on our 
 part, which we were and still are determined to avoid, even every 
 appearance of evil, and cut off every occasion of our enemies, or 
 of those who are ready to seize upon any pretext to make us trouble. 
 
THE IDENTITY AND TRIAL OF THE MURDERERS 273 
 
 We are decidedly for peace, and we ever have been and as the 
 murders were committed while the murdered were in immediate 
 charge of the state, all we ask is, that the state will prosecute the 
 case to final judgment, and redeem her pledge, as we have ours; 
 or if she choose to abandon the prosecution we shall submit peace- 
 ably ; although, for public good, we would prefer that justice should 
 take place. 
 
 We are unacquainted with the statute which suffers indicted 
 murderers to roam at large month after month without arrest ; or, 
 after delivery, or surrender, to run at pleasure before trial, and 
 we know not what other similar laws we might come in contact 
 with, and be liable to break to our own endangering or disadvantage, 
 should we attempt to have anything to do with the case in question. 
 
 It is reported to us, true or false we know not, that the sheriff 
 of Hancock county and his deputies have been forbidden by the 
 court to act in pending trials, and that the jurors have been dis- 
 charged without impaneling. If this be true we are unacquainted 
 with the statutes in the case and have nothing to say. 
 
 When Mr. McConnell was here last fall, at his earnest solici- 
 tation, we collected all the information in our possession and pre- 
 sented the same to him, supposing he would prosecute the case to 
 final judgment. He took minutes at the time and probably has them 
 now, if he has not handed them over, of which you must be ac- 
 quainted, better than we, and of which we did not preserve min- 
 utes: we know of no new information since that period. 
 
 We were happy to hear that the trials had been committed to 
 your able charge, and anticipated that you would have made us a 
 visit before the sitting of the court; and we still anticipate that 
 after court you will make us a visit, that we may have the pleasure 
 of a more general acquaintance among our citizens; and we feel 
 confident that such a visit would be highly appreciated by our 
 friend, General Young, with whom we understand you are ac- 
 quainted. 
 
 We shall be ever ready to assist in favoring the ends of right 
 so far as we can do it and not give any occasion of excitement which 
 would be detrimental to public peace. 
 
 We are Sir, 
 
 Most Respectfully 
 Your Servts. 
 
 [Signed] George A. Smith, 
 John Smith. 
 
 D.H.C. 7:415-16. 
 
 THE CHURCH NOT TO PROSECUTE ASSASSINS 
 
 'Nauvoo, July 16, 1844. 
 To Thos. H. Owen. 
 
 Sir, — I am sorry that there has been delay which caused your 
 letter to arrive so late to hand, and I feel thankful for the very 
 kind and sympathetic manner in which you express yourself to- 
 wards us as a people, and shall be very thankful if you will con- 
 
274 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 tinue your favors to me whenever anything may occur, and you 
 may depend upon my doing the same to yourself. 
 
 In regard to the assassination of the Generals Smith, we do 
 not intend to take any action in the case whatever, but leave our- 
 selves entirely in the hands of the governor and the majesty of 
 the law, to mete just and retributive justice in the matter. 
 
 You may rest perfectly assured that we never did act on the 
 offensive, or against the law, but shall continue the same course, 
 which appears to have given you so much satisfaction, and act en- 
 tirely on the defensive, and abide the law. 
 
 In haste, sir, I remain yours, etc., 
 
 Willard Richards. 
 
 D.H.C. 193:94. 
 
 GEORGE D. WATTS' REPORT OF THE CARTHAGE TRIAL 
 
 'District Court of Illinois, 
 Carthage, Hancock County, State of Iillinois, 
 
 May 19, 1845. 
 
 The Hon. Richard M. Young of Quincy on the bench. The fore- 
 noon was spent in organizing. Adjourned at twelve m. 
 
 Court met at two p.m. 
 
 Colonel Levi Williams, Thomas C. Sharp, editor of the Warsaw 
 Signal, Jacob C. Davis, state senator, Mark Aldrich and William N. 
 Grover were held to bail with each other for sureties, in the sum 
 of one thousand dollars each, to make their appearance in court 
 each day of the term ; they were indicted for the murder of Joseph 
 Smith at Carthage jail on the twenty-seventh day of June, 1844. 
 
 The court decided that their case would be tried on Wednesday 
 morning, May 21st. 
 
 Accordingly the sheriff notified the witnesses for both parties 
 to make their appearance on said morning at seven o'clock; the 
 court then proceeded to other business. 
 
 Wednesday Morning, May 21st. 
 
 Court opened. 
 
 The names of the counsel for the defense are as follows: 
 William A. Richardson, 0. H. Browning, Calvin A. Warren. 
 
 Josiah Lamborn, Esq. for the people. 
 
 Colonel Wm. A. Richardson presented before the court two 
 affidavits drawn out by the defendants to quash the array. The 
 charge of prejudice, consanguinity and partiality was preferred by 
 these affidavits against the county commissioners, the sheriff and 
 his deputies in the arrangement of the present panel of jurors ; that 
 their design was to hurt and prejudice the present trial, and thus 
 endanger the lives of the defendants. On these grounds the defend- 
 ants pleaded for the quashing of the array. After referring to the 
 statute to show the provision made for such a proceeding he sub- 
 mitted to the court. 
 
 The attorney for the people then arose and made the follow- 
 ing observations, viz.: That the doctrine advanced by Colonel 
 Richardson was a novelty to him, as the affidavits of the defend- 
 
THE IDENTITY AND TRIAL OF THE MURDERERS 275 
 
 ants predicated no charge against the present panel of jurors, 
 either individually or collectively; he snowed from the statute 
 that the array could not be quashed upon the above principle, 
 neither did he believe the officers of the county could be discharged 
 upon a mere exparte affidavit, but the charges ought to be made 
 and affidavits filed and a trial had before the court. He said it 
 was the first time he had heard of such a proceeding to quash the 
 array, at the same time nothing alleged against it individually 
 or collectively. 
 
 He showed that the statute referred to by Colonel Richardson 
 applied to civil and not criminal cases. He could not suffer the 
 idea of having the panel quashed by the discharge of all the offi- 
 cers of the county upon a mere exparte affidavit, and that too 
 made by five men indicted for murder. He asked for a precedent 
 in all the experience of this state or any other in criminal cases ; 
 he defied them to produce a single case. 
 
 Mr. Browning, for the defense, said, that although there had 
 not been a precedent in the United States for such a proceeding, 
 the reason is there has never been a case like this in the United 
 States. He contended that such a proceeding is fully warranted by 
 the English statutes and the statutes of the United States, that 
 in a case like this the county commissioners, the sheriff and his 
 deputies can be discharged, and in their place can be appointed 
 elisors for the purpose of choosing another jury. 
 
 The court ruled that the jury be discharged and elisors ap- 
 pointed. 
 
 The court then adjourned. 
 
 Thursday, May 22nd 
 
 The court appointed Thomas H. Owen and William D. Aber- 
 nethy elisors and they selected a full panel of jurors. 
 
 Four panels of jurors were successively called and out of the 
 ninety-six men twelve were selected as a jury satisfactory to the 
 defense. 
 
 Mr. Lamborn prosecuted before this jury in a manner which 
 showed clearly to every bystander the certainty of the guilt of 
 the prisoners who were honorably acquitted. Mr. Frank Worrell, 
 who had command of the guard at the jail at the time of the 
 massacre, being summoned as a witness, and being asked by the 
 prosecuting attorney if the guard had their guns loaded with 
 blank cartridges at the time of the attack on the jail refused to 
 answer, assigning as a reason that he could not without incrim- 
 inating himself.' d. H. C. 421-22. 
 
 COMMENTS ON THE VERDICT BY ORSON F. WHITNEY 
 
 The trial took place at Carthage, beginning on the 19th of 
 May, 1845. Sixty names had been presented to the Grand Jury 
 of the Circuit Court, as being implicated in the crime, but only 
 nine men had been indicted. * * * One of them, Levi Williams, the 
 leader of the mob, was not only a Colonel of militia, he was also 
 a Baptist preacher, and, of course, an "eminently respectable and 
 
276 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 conservative" man. Judge Richard M. Young presided at the 
 trial, and James H. Ralston and Josiah Lamborn conducted the 
 prosecution. The defense was represented by William A. Richard- 
 son, O. H. Browning, Calvin A. Warren, Archibald Williams, 0. C. 
 Skinner, and Thomas Morrison. The panel of the trial jury was 
 as follows: Jesse Griffits, Joseph Jones, William Robertson, 
 William Smith, Joseph Massey, Silas Griffits, Jonathan Foy, 
 Solomon J. Hill, James Gittings, F. M. Walton, Jabez A. Beebe, 
 and Gilmore Callison. The trial lasted until the 30th of May. 
 During its progress, Mr. Warren, of counsel for the defense, 
 argued, it is said, in the course of his plea, that if the prisoners 
 were guilty of murder, then he himself was guilty; that it was 
 the public opinion that the Smiths ought to be killed, and public 
 opinion made the law; consequently it was not murder to kill 
 them. Evidently this wretched piece of sophistry had weight with 
 the jury in making up their verdict. 
 
 "In the light of such statements as these, the verdict (not 
 guilty) is easily explained. The jury may have been 'ignorant 
 enough and indifferent enough' in the first place, as alleged; but 
 they doubtless became well enough informed as to the fate that 
 would befall them if their findings failed to please the mob, and 
 were sufficiently interested to provide against the perilous con- 
 tingency. " Mormon Prophet's Tragedy, pp. 89-90. 
 
 GOV. FORD'S REVIEW OF THE TRIAL 
 
 During the progress of these trials, the judge was compelled 
 to permit the courthouse to be filled and surrounded by armed 
 bands, who attended court to browbeat and overawe the adminis- 
 tration of justice. The judge himself w T as in a duress, and in- 
 formed me that he did not consider his life secure any part of 
 the time. The consequence was, that the crowd had everything 
 their own way; the lawyers for the defense defended their clients 
 by a long and elaborate attack on the governor; the armed mob 
 stamped with their feet and yelled their approbation at every 
 sarcastic and smart thing that was said; and the judge was not 
 only forced to hear it, but to lend it a kind of approval. Josiah 
 Lamborn was attorney for the prosecution; and O. H. Browning. 
 0. C. Skinner, Calvin A. Warren and William A. Richardson, were 
 for the defense. Ford's History of Illinois, p. 354. D.H.C. 7:50. 
 
 CORONER'S VERDICT ON MARTYRDOM 
 
 (The following appears as a press dispatch, dated, Carthage, 111., 
 September 11th: 
 
 An interesting discovery was made by Thomas B. Griffiths, a 
 pioneer citizen, while hunting among a pile of rubbish in one of the 
 court-house jury rooms. It is the original coroner's verdict on the 
 killing of Joseph and Hyrum Smith at the old Carthage jail, on June 
 28, 1844. The verdict reads as follows: 
 
 "We, the jury, having been duly sworn by George W. Stigoll, 
 coroner of Hancock County, diligently to inquire, and a true pre- 
 sentment make, in what manner and by whom Joseph Smith and 
 
THE IDENTITY AND TRIAL OF THE MURDERERS 277 
 
 Hyrum Smith, whose dead bodies were found in and at the jail of 
 Hancock County, on the 28th of June, 1844, came to their deaths, 
 after having heard the evidence and upon full inquiry, concerning 
 the facts and a careful examination of the said bodies, do find 
 that deceased came to their deaths by violence, and that the body 
 of the said Joseph Smith has upon it the following marks, to-wit : 
 A bullet wound near the right breast and another in the right 
 shoulder, and that the said Hyrum Smith has the following marks, 
 to-wit: A wound in the throat by a bullet and a wound in the ab- 
 domen, inflicted by some person or persons to the jury unknown 
 and which the jury find to be the cause of their deaths." 
 
 The document is signed by Wesley Williams, Franklin J. Barlett, Aaron 
 Griffiths, Antony Barklan, George C. Waggoner, Peter Bioan, George Bach- 
 man, Thomas Barnett, Elam S. Freeman, John Maherman, Simon Pennock, 
 Samuel Gilpin. 
 
 Endorsement: "Verdict 'of the jury on an inquest upon the bodies of 
 Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith, filed, October 23, A. D., 1844." 
 
 J. B. Backenstoe, Clerk. 
 
 The document does not appear to have been filed until four months after 
 the killing and the inquest. There can be no doubt as to its genuineness. It is 
 written on an excellent quality of old style line foolscap, faintly ruled, and 
 is discolored by time. 
 
 So far as known, the only person now living who was on that jury is 
 Mr. George C. Waggoner, of Pilot Grove township. Mr. Griffiths, who found 
 the paper, saw the Smith killing. He was a member of the Carthage Greys, 
 that guarded the jail. 
 
 The description of the wounds is so incorrect as to indicate that the docu- 
 ment is not genuine. For example, the shot which produced the death of Hyrum 
 Smith struck him in the face. The jurors, however, did not see the remains, 
 which may account for errors in describing the wounds. 
 
 Millennial Star, Vol. 52:643-44 (1890). 
 
 THE VERDICT GIVEN IN ALL AGES 
 
 On Friday, May 30th (1845), the trial terminated, and the 
 prisoners were acquitted in the case of Joseph Smith. This ac- 
 cords with the vote of the city council last July, that when the 
 law failed to atone for the blood of our prophet and patriarch, 
 shed at Carthage on the 27th of June last by a mob, we would 
 refer the case to God for a righteous judgment, and we have never 
 varied from that intention. If those men had been found guilty it 
 would have been a novel case, and a violation of all the rules of the 
 world in all martyr cases before. 
 
 The wicked who slew the prophets — boiled the children of 
 Israel in cauldrons, who fried them in pans, who stoned a Stephen, 
 who crucified the Son of God, and who harrassed the Saints to 
 death for sport, or burnt them at the stake, did the laws of the 
 land and its executors ever make the perpetrators atone for that 
 innocent blood ? No ! alas, no ! 
 
 We are satisfied to let the dead bury their dead. We ask for 
 even handed justice, a righteous judgment, and we ask for our 
 rights of the powers that be ; and then content ourselves as Saints 
 of the living God with the action of those powers, knowing that 
 the judge of all tke earth will reward every man according to his 
 
278 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 work in the day of judgment. The sentence of Jehovah upon Cain 
 for martyring his brother Abel, is a sample for all murderers that 
 have cursed themselves and the earth since — a fugitive and a 
 vagabond in the earth shalt thou be. 
 
 The severest punishment upon a guilty conscience is a con- 
 tinual torment in the flesh without satisfying the demands of jus- 
 tice, wiping out the stains of innocent blood, or soothing the cry 
 of widows and orphans to God for vengeance! Again let us say 
 we are satisfied; we will not do wrong because others do. The 
 ghosts that haunt the guilty by night and by day shall never tor- 
 ment us by shedding innocent blood. The blood of the prophets, 
 the tears of the widows, and the weeping of orphan children, let 
 alone the broken faith of a State, and the weakness of law, or 
 even the scars of living witnesses, shall never cry in the ears of 
 the Lord of Sabaoth for vengeance — because we have shed inno- 
 cent blood, and hid ourselves under the cobwebs of chicanery. 
 
 Mormonism was ever above such artifices, being eternal truth ; 
 and while we seek peace and salvation, the murderers of Joseph 
 and Hyrum Smith, be they who they may, can rest assured that 
 their case, independent of all earthly tribunals, will be tried by 
 the Supreme Judge of the universe, who has said, vengeance is 
 mine, I will repay. The Mormons do not believe in taking life like 
 the world, knowing that the scriptures say, "No murderer hath 
 eternal life abiding in him." 
 
 Calm as a summer's morning; still as the noiseless light that 
 flies from sphere to sphere ; and orderly as the worlds roll in their 
 circuits before the Lord, does Mormonism pursue the even tenor 
 of its way — sounding to the nations of the earth good tidings of 
 great joy; continually consoling one another; — with persecutions 
 we are satisfied, with prosperity we are satisfied, yea, with all 
 things we are satisfied when we know that God is satisfied! and 
 from henceforth let all men who drive, despoil, rob, or murder 
 us, do it on the credit of the nation; that if there be any glory 
 in opposing Mormonism, all that act may share in that glory. As 
 for us, we will honour the law, we will honour our country, we will 
 
 honour virtue, we will honour God. Millennial Star, 6:41-42. 
 
 THE COURTS OF HEAVEN WILL TRY THE CASE 
 
 BY THE MOTHER OF THE PROPHET JOSEPH 
 
 She (Lucy Smith) remarked that it was just eighteen years 
 since Joseph Smith the Prophet had become acquainted with the 
 contents of the plates; and then in a concise manner related over 
 the most prominent points in the early history of her family ; their 
 hardships, trials, privations, persecutions, sufferings, etc. ; some 
 parts of which melted those who heard her to tears, more espe- 
 cially the part relating to a scene in Missouri, when her beloved 
 son Joseph was condemned to be shot in fifteen minutes, and she 
 by prodigious efforts was enabled to press through the crowd to 
 where he was, and to give him her hand; but could not see his 
 face; he took her hand and kissed it; she said, "let me hear your 
 
THE IDENTITY AND TRIAL OF THE MURDERERS 279 
 
 voice once more, my son ;" he said, ''God bless you my dear mother !" 
 She gave notice that she had written her history, and wished it 
 printed before we leave this place. She then mentioned a discourse 
 once delivered by Joseph after his return from Washington, in 
 which he said that he had done all that could be done on earth to 
 obtain justice for their ivrongs; but they ivere all, from the presi- 
 dent to the judge, determined not to grant justice. "But," said he, 
 keep good courage, these cases are recorded in heaven, and I am 
 going to lay them before the highest court in heaven." "Little," said 
 she, "did I then think he was so soon to leave us, to take the case up 
 himself. And don't you think this case is now being tried? I feel 
 as though God ivas vexing this nation a little, here and there, and 
 I feel that the Lord tvill let Brother Brigham take the people away. 
 Here, in this city, lay my dead; my husband and children; and if so 
 be the rest of my children go ivith you, {and icould to God they 
 may all go), they will not go ivithout me; and if I go, I ivant my 
 bones brought back in case I die away, and deposited with my hus- 
 band and children." D.H.C., Oct. 8, 1845, 7:471. 
 
CHAPTER 15 
 
 The Prophet Joseph in Zion's Camp 
 
 (Excerpts) 
 BY L. 0. LlTTLEFIELD 
 
 I well remember when the name of Joseph Smith — the Prophet 
 of God, whose destiny was to restore a knowledge of the fulness 
 of the everlasting gospel to the earth at the commencement of the 
 dispensation of the fulness of times — first saluted my ears in this 
 life. I was then a mere boy, perhaps about nine years old. 
 
 While playing with my eldest brother Josiah in the dooryard 
 at the home of my parents, some person, whose name has passed 
 out of my memory, came and informed our parents that a strange 
 circumstance had taken place in the western portion of the State 
 of New York, the State in which we then resided. This so impressed 
 my young mind that I ceased to play with my brother and listened 
 to all that was said by the stranger. He related in substance that 
 a young man reported that he had found a record of a people who 
 once dwelt upon this land but had become extinct in consequence 
 of internal wars that occurred in their midst. This record was 
 said to have been engraved upon gold plates, which had been hid 
 in the earth ; and that the young man declared that an angel had 
 directed him to the place where they had been concealed for very 
 many years. 
 
 This impressed us all as being a very strange rumor, but I 
 do not remember that myself or my parents heard anything addi- 
 tional to satisfy our awakened curiosity, until about two years from 
 that date, after we had removed to the State of Michigan. 
 
 We settled in Oakland County, near to the town of Pontiac. 
 Two Mormon Elders came there as missionaries. They were the 
 expounders of a new and very strange religion. My father and 
 mother were members of the Methodist church, but out of curiosity 
 they went to hear them preach and took me with them. 
 
 We were a little late in arriving at the place where the meeting 
 was being held, and we heard the speaker's voice distinctly before 
 we reached the house. I have considered it somewhat singular, 
 but it is truly a fact of which I have often spoken, that there was 
 an inspiration or a convincing power which accompanied that 
 man's voice that caused me to feel that he was a good man and 
 was speaking the truth, though I had not distinctly understood 
 a single word that he had uttered. After entering the house I 
 believed every word that Elder Jared Carter, uttered to be the 
 truth. I was convinced, even from the very sound of his voice, 
 and still more confirmed after hearing his doctrines, that what 
 he enunciated was what I have since more fully learned to be the 
 fullness of the everlasting gospel, as was formerly preached by 
 
THE PROPHETIC FATE OF PERSECUTING NATIONS 281 
 
 Christ and His apostles. "Blessed are they who know the joyful 
 sound," saith the Psalmist. 
 
 It is sufficient for my present purpose to record here that my 
 parents soon were baptized, together with many others in that 
 section of country. A branch of the Church was organized, over 
 which Elder Samuel Bent was called to preside. This is the man 
 who afterward became well known in the Church and was a 
 member of the High Council in the days of Nauvoo. 
 
 During Elder Bent's presidency in that branch of the Church, 
 Elders Hyrum Smith and Lyman Wight came there on a special 
 mission. They had been sent by the Church at Kirtland, Ohio, 
 to gather up as many of the Latter-day Saints as was consistent 
 with circumstances to go up to Missouri to aid the brethren there 
 who had been driven from their homes in Jackson County, and, if 
 possible, accomplish their re-establishment upon their lands in that 
 county, as those brethren were the lawful possessors of those lands, 
 to which they held lawful titles, and from which they had been 
 forcibly ejected by mobs. 
 
 I was away from my father's home when I learned of this 
 proposed journey to Missouri. I was impressed with a desire — 
 boy as I still was — to go with that company. 
 
 When I returned home I found to my delight that my father 
 was going, and designed to take my brother Josiah and myself 
 with him. 
 
 A company of, I believe, eighteen were soon in readiness for 
 the journey. I cannot, from memory, give the names of all who 
 composed the company, but, besides Elders Hyrum Smith and 
 Lyman Wight, I remember Samuel Bent, Lyman Curtis, Meecham 
 Smith, Alanson Colby, Ornon Hoton, Elijah Fordham, George 
 Fordham, Waldo Littlefield, Josiah Littlefield, Lyman 0. Littlefield ; 
 also three females : Sophronia Curtis, Charlotte Alverd and Sister 
 Hoton, wife of Ornon Hoton. 
 
 Our wagons contained our provisions, clothing, bedding, cook- 
 ing utensils, etc., which, all told, made the loads so heavy that 
 the men had to walk about the entire distance, and the women 
 walked a great portion of the time where the roads were in a 
 condition to admit of their doing so. Our two honored leaders 
 also walked the entire distance. 
 
 From our place of starting to the line which forms the western 
 boundary of the State of Michigan was a long distance ; but when 
 we reached that we had then to travel across the states of Indiana 
 and Illinois before reaching the Missouri River at Quincy. As this 
 stream, at that point, divides Illinois and Missouri, and as we were 
 all weary and the most of us footsore, we were pleased enough to 
 reach it; and we felt additional joy because of our anticipation 
 of soon joining the main portion of Zion's Camp which was being 
 led by the Prophet Joseph Smith. 
 
 This camp — now so celebrated and making so important a 
 portion of Church History — was encamped for a few days' rest 
 at the farm and home where a brother in the Church, by the name 
 of Burget, resided. It was there that our little Michigan company 
 formed a junction with it. 
 
282 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 Our company had already learned to love and honor Hyrum 
 Smith because of his dignified and upright course and correct 
 teachings; and we rejoiced that our eager desires to become 
 acquainted with his brother, the Prophet Joseph Smith, were so 
 soon to be realized. 
 
 Is it any wonder that I, so young in years, should be filled with 
 sensations of intense pleasure and respect for him when I first met 
 him? He was, indeed, more than all this, in my estimation, for I 
 then and there felt, as it were, my whole being absorbed in the 
 conviction and knowledge given me by the divine Spirit of truth, 
 that he was a Prophet of God, raised up in the nineteenth century 
 to restore the gospel that had been discarded by the people of the 
 earth since the Savior was crucified and the prophets and apostles 
 had been slain, or had fallen asleep in death. It surpasses the 
 understanding of the carnal mind to comprehend the force of the 
 testimony which the Spirit of divine truth brings to the minds of 
 the honest in heart when convinced of the truth of the gospel or 
 of the divine mission of God's chosen servants who are sent to 
 deliver a gospel message or perform a work for the salvation 
 and redemption of the fallen sons and daughters of Adam. 
 
 He received our little company with manifestations of friend- 
 ship and joy. The meeting with himself and his brother Hyrum 
 was as might have been expected with two such noble men, united 
 together by natural ties and with souls enlightened by divine influ- 
 ences, the fruits of which was to them the knowledge that God 
 lived and communicated His will from the heavens to them as He 
 had done anciently before the channel of revelation was closed. 
 
 The camp had traveled up from Kirtland, Ohio, under a variety 
 of difficulties. The wonder, in the later years of my reflections, 
 has been how the people of the towns, cities and states through 
 which they passed permitted them to pursue their way without 
 interposing force to stop them. It is looked upon by me to this 
 day as being miraculous. God was in it, or they never could have 
 penetrated so many hundreds of miles of the dense population of 
 the United States. Indeed, they were even armed, but only for 
 purposes of self protection, and no intention was entertained to 
 use their arms for aggressive purposes. But why were not the 
 people so jealous of their motive as to deprive them of their arms 
 or turn them back? My emphatic answer to this would be that 
 the camp was not thus hindered because God was in the movement. 
 
 Partly for recuperative purposes and to effect a more thorough 
 organization, Zion's Camp was halted at Brother Allred's place, 
 at Salt River. The name of the county I cannot state, but it was 
 no very great distance from the city of Quincy, across the Mis- 
 sissippi River, west. In this work of reconstruction, cleansing 
 and brushing off the dust that necessarily accumulated after many 
 hundred miles of travel, the members of the camp were busily 
 engaged and preparing to continue their march still to the west. 
 
 The camping ground presented a city of tents and covered 
 wagons. These were arranged in an order which made them quite 
 
THE PROPHETIC FATE OF PERSECUTING NATIONS 283 
 
 convenient for all purposes of passing to and fro for horsemen, 
 carriages or footmen. Visitors were struck with this feature of 
 order, and seemed to look upon the camp as quite a novelty, and 
 the people as being a class used to good order and thriftiness. 
 
 The visiting resident citizens at this point, as well as I remem- 
 ber, were by no means unfriendly, but were quite civil and courteous 
 in their deportment towards the members of our company. Brother 
 Allred and family were especially kind and active in making com- 
 fortable as many as possible of our large number. 
 
 The encampment at Brother Allred's was made, I think, two 
 or three days previous to the arrival of our Michigan company. 
 Our coming had been looked for and now that the junction had 
 been formed, the main and active motive was to prepare for an 
 advance as soon as possible. As I was then so very young I was 
 naturally enough not made acquainted with the intricate or minute 
 order in which the camp was organized for traveling; but I 
 remember that they were classed into messes of tens for purposes 
 of cooking, washing our clothing, eating, sleeping, etc. While 
 there the men were paraded outside of the camp for exercise and 
 instruction. This was an unpleasant feature for me, as I was 
 too young and too small of stature to act with the men. This 
 created within me, as I remember, some lonesome reflections. I 
 sat down upon a rock where the men were passing, the better to 
 observe their movements. While thus seated, the Prophet Joseph 
 Smith, who happened to be passing by in quite a hurry, noticed 
 me. He stepped to where I sat alone. It might have been my 
 isolated position that attracted him. I knew not the motive; but 
 that man, who to me appeared so good and so godlike, really halted 
 in his hurry to notice me — only a little boy. Placing one of his 
 hands upon my head, he said: "Well, bub, is there no place for 
 your 
 
 This recognition from the man whom I then knew was a 
 Prophet of God created within me a tumult of emotions. I could 
 make him no reply. My young heart was filled with joy to me 
 unspeakable. He passed on and left me in my lonely attitude, for 
 he was then in quite a hurry to accomplish something pertaining 
 to the movements of the men which could not be delayed. 
 
 I mention this circumstance as it illustrates a trait of his 
 character, which in after years he has often been seen to exemplify. 
 He was naturally fond of the young — especially little children. He 
 did not like to pass a child, however small, without speaking to it. 
 He has been known to actually cross a street if he saw a child 
 alone on the opposite side, to speak to it or to inquire if it had lost 
 its way. 
 
 These little acts of human sympathy were prompted by those 
 innate qualities implanted in his heart which rendered it so easy 
 and natural for him to be ever prompt in administering kindness 
 and rendering aid to all who chanced to move within his accustomed 
 rounds of life. He was not only kind and gentle to the youth, but 
 the aged he treated with the respect due their whitened locks; 
 and their tottering limbs could ever find ready and willing support 
 
284 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 on his strong arm, ever prompt to lead them to the place where 
 inclination or duty called for their presence. 
 
 Thus I have made allusion to my first introduction to an 
 acquaintance with Joseph Smith, the God-chosen Prophet of the 
 nineteenth century. In my estimation he was good and great, and 
 even one of God's noblemen. My subsequent acquaintance with 
 him proved to me that my first estimate of his true character was 
 not too highly formed. 
 
 Preparations were rapidly being made for the camp to move 
 upon its westward journey. This required a great amount of care 
 and labor to be performed. Every person was ready and willing 
 to render whatever service Joseph advised, and his wishes were 
 made known with such a good and friendly spirit that none could 
 find a reason to feel anything but satisfied pleasure in pushing 
 forward the necessary preparation. 
 
 The camp consisted of two hundred and five persons, all 
 happy, satisfied and hopeful. They felt they were discharging a 
 great duty which they owed both to God and to their brethren 
 who had been by violence dispossessed of their homes and driven 
 from the lands for which they had paid their money and secured 
 legal titles. But we had still to travel a long and weary road which 
 lay, portions of it at least, through a country thickly settled by 
 people who we had reasons to believe were much prejudiced against 
 us and who according to rumor, would oppose our advance when 
 we should reach their settlements. We had but one alternative 
 which was to trust in God and go ahead. 
 
 The bugle sounded for prayers night and morning, which 
 service was attended to, not in mass with one person to act as 
 intercessor, but this sacred duty was generally performed in the 
 various tents and wagons according as the brethren were associated 
 together in messes of tens, when some one of that little family 
 would offer prayer for their respective number. 
 
 In connection with these seasons of devotion — especially after 
 we had bowed the head and bent the knee in offering our supplica- 
 tions — the sweet singers would sing with the spirit and the under- 
 standing, some of the hymns which had been inspired in connection 
 with the great latter-day work. And these hymns were rendered 
 by the faith which the new and everlasting gospel had revived in 
 the hearts of those humble and faithful followers of Christ. In all 
 these seasons of prayer and singing there was felt the power of 
 faith which flowed pure and uninterrupted from the fountain of 
 light. Even the unbelieving strangers who happened to be passing 
 were attracted by these exercises; but the hearts of some were 
 hardened and filled with the spirit of rage and bitterness. 
 
 Frequently the leading men of the camp would speak to us 
 and encourage us by their words and testimony concerning the 
 truthfulness of the strange work which God had just brought to 
 light. The Prophet himself frequently spoke to us in a collective 
 capacity, and often with a power and force of utterance that 
 exceeded anything that the members of the camp had ever before 
 heard or seen manifested by mortal man. His inspired mind 
 
THE PROPHETIC FATE OF PERSECUTING NATIONS 285 
 
 seemed to commune with, and at times, almost grasp the mind of 
 Deity itself. 
 
 Hyrum Smith was much beloved by all the members of the 
 camp for zeal, faithfulness and a straightforward, even course 
 from day to day. His daily deportment was exemplary and what- 
 ever he said privately to the brethren or when he talked to them 
 in a collective body, was received with approval and had great 
 influence with them in stimulating them to endure the fatigues of 
 travel with patience. He was a strong support to the Prophet 
 and rendered every service in his power in helping to carry out 
 his counsels and desires. 
 
 Men were detailed to stand guard every night to watch our 
 animals and to see that the threats of molestation made occasionally 
 by some of the inhabitants were not carried into effect. 
 
 The camp moved forward day after day and the routine of 
 labors that were necessary to be performed was kept up in general 
 good order and punctuality. Nearly every person in the camp 
 had specific duties and labors assigned him. Some were cooks, 
 some drove and took care of the teams ; others acted as commissary 
 agents for the various messes, by visiting farm houses and other 
 places to purchase provisions. Persons also were charged with 
 the duty of procuring water for drinking and cooking purposes, 
 while others procured fuel, all to be obtained as speedily as possible 
 when the wagons were halted. We had no drones, and what was 
 very agreeable, none performed these several duties with reluctance ; 
 but all were accomplished orderly, with willing hands and cheerful 
 hearts. 
 
 The labors and duties that necessarily had to be performed 
 by the members of Zion's Camp, day after day and night after 
 night, were very fatiguing. The large majority of them walked 
 the most of the way. The Prophet was relieved of this task. His 
 duties were such that he had provided himself — extra from his 
 baggage wagons — with a light, open carriage. Frequently he 
 was under the necessity of driving several miles out of the course 
 to be traveled by the main body of the camp, in order to transact 
 business or hold an interview with some of the leading men, in 
 order to allay excitement which here and there existed in opposition 
 to our passing through the country with so large and well-disci- 
 plined a force. Often he was under the necessity of taking a 
 few men with him. When there was no business of this character 
 to be attended to, he frequently would take his brother Hyrum or 
 some two or three leading men with him to ride, for the purpose, 
 no doubt, of consulting upon the best and wisest measures to be 
 adopted in order to meet certain difficult circumstances that seemed 
 to menace our advance. 
 
 A complication of difficulties seemed to become more and 
 more frequent as we traveled to the west and neared the place 
 of our destination. At times the possibility of reaching the western 
 counties of Missouri seemed dark and forbidding, and had it not 
 been for the firm trust the Prophet and all in camp had in the 
 overruling hand of God, we certainly would have been inclined 
 to abandon all idea of being permitted to pass through the country 
 
286 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 much nearer to the setting sun. But night after night the prayers 
 of the faithful ascended into the ears of Jehovah to soften the 
 hearts of the people towards us, as we had no design of violence 
 or evil against them or their country. We traveled by faith, and 
 the Lord heard our importunities. 
 
 It must have been the 22nd of June, 1834, that we camped 
 at Fishing River, in the State of Missouri, as that is the date of 
 a very important revelation received by the Prophet Joseph Smith. 
 This revelation will be found commencing on page 377 of the third 
 electrotype edition of the Doctrine and Covenants. Persons reading 
 this revelation will obtain authentic reasons why Zion's Camp was 
 started from Kirtland, Ohio, to journey into the western portion 
 of the State of Missouri. The reasons there given are plain and 
 will relieve me of the necessity of trying to give explanations in 
 my own language. I will try, however, to give my readers, as 
 well as I can, an understanding of the scenes that transpired at 
 the place of our encampment, there and in the region round about. 
 
 As near as memory serves me it was about 4 o'clock in the 
 afternoon of June 22nd, 1834, that the camp made a halt and 
 camped upon the bank of Fishing River. I am not certain whether 
 the revelation here referred to was received on the very day we 
 reached that point or whether it was received during the following 
 day. I have an impression that this revelation was received the 
 morning after. It will perhaps be sufficient to know that this 
 revelation was received during the time the camp remained at that 
 place. 
 
 When we reached Fishing River the day was warm and very 
 pleasant. I think there was not a cloud to be seen in the sky. We 
 found the river in fine condition for fording. The water was 
 reported, by the brethren who went down to it where the road 
 crossed, to be not over knee-deep. Of course, we had plenty of 
 time and might easily have crossed and made our encampment on 
 the opposite shore long before dark ; but the brethren felt impressed 
 not to cross the stream at that time. We were soon busy pitching 
 our tents and placing the wagons in position, as was our custom. 
 
 While we were building fires and commencing to prepare 
 supper, two or three men rode hastily into camp and commenced 
 a blasphemous tirade about "Jo Smith and the G — d d — d Mormons/' 
 They wanted to know what the h — 1 so many of us were traveling 
 through the county for. They swore that we had got to our jour- 
 ney's end. They declared also that a large force, consisting of 
 several hundred armed men, would be at the ford on the opposite 
 side of the river in a short time, and that our company would all 
 be slaughtered before morning. 
 
 The Prophet remonstrated firmly but quietly with them. He 
 tried to calm their excited minds by assuring them that we had 
 nothing but peaceable intentions toward the inhabitants. 
 
 I thought the men were intoxicated; but whether this was 
 their condition or not they certainly were very earnest and loud- 
 spoken in their denunciations of the Mormons and "Jo Smith," 
 as they called him. During this parley — entirely unexpected on 
 our part — the entire camp naturally gathered around them. Their 
 
THE PROPHETIC FATE OF PERSECUTING NATIONS 287 
 
 position was on the main traveled road, on both sides of which 
 our tents had been pitched. Joseph and a few of the leading men 
 happened to be near the spot where they halted and commenced 
 their angry declamation. I was at the outskirts of the brethren, 
 who were quite densely massed around the rude intruders; but 
 still near enough to note the contrast manifested between Joseph 
 and the brethren and that of the rough, demoniacal appearance 
 of these men as they sat upon their horses and swung their arms 
 uncouthly around to give emphasis to their wicked threats of 
 slaughter. 
 
 Joseph maintained his usual dignity of demeanor. They 
 failed to draw from him any angry resentment of words. He firmly 
 and kindly assured them, however, that the remaining portion 
 of our journey would be characterized by the same moderation 
 and justice towards the inhabitants as had been the case all along 
 our route of travel ; that we had not asked any aid from the people 
 except we had paid the price asked for what we had obtained ; and 
 he intended to pay a just equivalent for all supplies furnished us 
 until our journey was ended. He only asked to travel peaceably 
 through the country as an American citizen, with no intention 
 other than to fully respect the rights of the citizens. He did not 
 quail before them a particle, but took all the pains possible in the 
 short time the men tarried to correctly inform them as to the 
 honesty and justice of our motives. 
 
 The men finally reined up their horses and spurred away, 
 still shouting their anathemas to the effect that our company were 
 all to be massacred during that night. 
 
 These men were gone just long enough for us to look around 
 a little, when we observed the sky was being rapidly overcast with 
 densely dark and angry clouds. I think we had not all finished 
 eating our suppers, when the rain began to fall in torrents, accom- 
 panied with terribly fierce wind. So violent was the wind and 
 torrents of rain that neither our wagons nor tents afforded us 
 protection, and we were quickly drenched and almost unable to 
 stand against the fierceness of the blast. Our condition was indeed 
 critical. 
 
 Close by where we were encamped was a large log meeting- 
 house. We had no alternative but to seek shelter within the strong 
 walls of this building. The door was found locked, but the windows 
 were easily raised and we hastily found ingress thereby. Had it not 
 been for that shelter our suffering must have been great — the 
 effects from which might have been fatal to some of us at least. 
 
 I have witnessed rain storms in various portions of the earth, 
 but nothing I have ever experienced has equaled that storm in 
 point of the terrible fierceness of the wind and the immensity of 
 water that fell. What added to the destructiveness of the storm 
 were the missiles of hail that were hurled in vast quantities by the 
 currents of wind that rushed and roared through the woods which 
 surrounded our place of shelter, causing the sound of falling trees 
 and massive limbs to add additional terrors to the general clang 
 of the storm. 
 
 The vast electric artillery of the expansive firmament seemed 
 
288 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 to be in a state of rapid combustion, so that night, which otherwise 
 would have been as dark as night could possibly become, was at 
 times rendered so light that we could look far out beyond the sway- 
 ing trees, and falling and splintered branches hurled along the 
 air and striking the earth with a fury that made us truly thankful 
 for the protecting walls of the strong blockhouse that rendered 
 us secure from the perils of that exciting hour. The elemental 
 phenomena of that night were certainly a strange mixture of hail 
 and rain, light and darkness, alternating in successive motion as 
 if vieing with each other to become champions in the strife. 
 
 The heavens above us were so completely lit up by the electric 
 display that the dense and sombrous clouds appeared as ponderous 
 masses floating through luminous areas of glowing light. We 
 looked and gazed through the protecting windows of our place of 
 refuge, and amazement filled our minds as we contemplated the 
 inimitable wonders of the God of nature. 
 
 The voice of thunder uttered anathemas against the enemies 
 of truth and righteousness, who were massed with arms across 
 the river, ready at that hour to fall upon us and spill our blood. 
 And that thunder shook the very earth with terrible force, as if 
 threatening to open its caverns and engulf whatever existed upon 
 its surface within the range of that perilous storm. But our trust 
 was in Jehovah, and we looked confidently for His preservation, 
 for we knew, by the faith that the gospel had implanted in our 
 hearts, that the arm of the Eternal Father was stretched out for 
 our preservation. 
 
 I cannot relate how our animals fared outside ; but the peltings 
 of the rain and hail hurled against them by such fierce wind as 
 blew through that night must have tortured them unmercifully. 
 I understood, however, that they, as much as possible, were placed 
 at the lee side of the wagons and the large building that sheltered 
 us. Nearly everything in our wagons was wet and unfit for use 
 until overhauled and dried. 
 
 At length the terrible night was passed and a glorious morn- 
 ing's sun chased away the darkness and revealed for our inspection 
 the fragmentary condition of the woods and fields. A visible 
 change had been wrought by the warring elements. The work 
 of havoc and devastation met the eye in every direction. Trees 
 were uprooted and limbs hurled in great quantities to the earth. 
 But the brightness of the new-born day and the reviving warmth 
 of the June sun re-assured all nature. The birds of the woods 
 hymned their unwritten notes of sweetness and twittered through 
 the branches as if to search out the new disasters that had befallen 
 their wonted resorts. 
 
 The brethren also partook of the genial influence. They 
 rejoiced in the morning's effulgence and thanked God that He had 
 preserved them and revived within them an increase of faith in 
 His overruling providences. They took hasty excursions here 
 and there and found the storm had left its destructive mark to an 
 extent that surpassed expectation. From the place of our encamp- 
 ment we heard the roar of water in the river and in a short time 
 some of our men returned and declared that the water in Fishing 
 
THE PROPHETIC FATE OF PERSECUTING NATIONS 289 
 
 River was forty feet deep ! When we made our encampment there 
 it was no more than knee deep. What did we understand by this? 
 We understood that the Almighty had sent that storm for the 
 special preservation of Zion's Camp. This was a great truth 
 that was plain to our comprehension and the gratitude we felt 
 to our Heavenly Father was such that melted our hearts with 
 thankfulness. 
 
 As soon as we well could we prepared for starting, after 
 partaking of a scanty breakfast. We found the road in many 
 places strewn with limbs and a few trees, some of which we had 
 to remove before we could proceed. Of course the roads were muddy 
 and our progress was anything but rapid. After we had traveled 
 a few miles we came to a friendly family who received us with 
 feelings of humane sympathy. We camped at that place and took 
 time to rest and recover to some extent from the fatigues and 
 exposures of the night. The Prophet Joseph there made a speech 
 to the members of the camp, and, if I remember correctly, a few 
 strangers were present. Joseph spoke almost with superhuman 
 force and clearness. He told us that the storm had been sent by 
 the God of Israel to place a barrier between us and our enemies, 
 to prevent them from falling upon us during the night to massacre 
 us, as the men who rode into our camp the evening before had 
 declared was the intention. We soon learned from the inhabitants 
 that this was certainly in the program of a few hundred men to 
 do, who were posted not far from the ford on the opposite shore. 
 
 Could we now have the prophetic declarations made by the 
 Prophet Joseph in his speech at that place they would be far above 
 the value of gold. They were of such import that no man but an 
 inspired servant of Jehovah could have uttered them. I can see 
 him to this day, in memory, as his tall, manly form stood erect 
 and commanding. His face shone with the light of the Holy Spirit, 
 his mild blue eyes fairly sparkled with the fire of the divinity that 
 possessed his being. I can only let that scene live in memory, and 
 thank my Heavenly Father that I heard that mighty man in the 
 days of my youth, when early impressions are not apt to die. 
 
 He declared the storm of that night was to be numbered 
 among the manifestations which were to follow in the last days 
 in defense of the house of Israel, scattered among the nations of 
 the earth. He said the fury of elements ivould yet ivaste away the 
 wicked, and floods ivould overflow the river banks and sweep the 
 precious fruits of soil from the possession of those who had labored 
 to mature them. The sea ivould sweep beyond its bounds and 
 work wonderful havoc, and that earthquakes would shake the 
 earth and cast down the dwellings of those whose hearts rebelled 
 against the everlasting gospel. God ivould visit the wicked nations 
 with just retribution, for many of them would harden their hearts 
 against the testimony of the humble ambassadors of truth; that 
 the time was nigh when He would have a controversy with the 
 people of the earth, for they ivould yet shed the blood of His 
 prophets and cast out His people from their borders. These sayings 
 were not uttered in the exact words here written, but this will 
 convey to the reader a portion of the substance of his declarations. 
 
290 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 He said also that Jehovah had commanded that journey to be 
 taken and He would protect the members of the camp to their 
 place of destination; that no hand should prosper that should be 
 lifted against them, if they would continue to be united and faithful 
 in walking by the counsel that should be imparted to them from 
 time to time by the influence of the Spirit of the Great Jehovah. 
 
 "During our travels," said the Prophet, "we visited several of 
 the mounds which had been thrown up by the ancient inhabitants of 
 this country, Nephites, Lamanites, etc., and this morning I went up 
 on a high mound near the river, accompanied by the brethren. From 
 this mound we could overlook the tops of the trees and view the 
 prairie on each side of the river as far as our visions could extend, 
 and the scenery was truly delightful. 
 
 "On the top of the mound were stones which presented the 
 appearance of three altars having been erected one above the 
 other, according to ancient order, and human bones were strewn 
 over the surface of the ground. The brethren procured a shovel 
 and hoe, and removing the earth to the depth of about one foot 
 discovered the skeleton of a man, almost entire, and between his 
 ribs was a Lamanitish arrow, which evidently produced his death. 
 Elder Brigham Young retained the arrow and the brethren carried 
 some pieces of the skeleton to Clay County. The contemplation 
 of the scenery before us produced peculiar sensations in our 
 bosoms; and the visions of the past being opened to my under- 
 standing by the Spirit of the Almighty, I discovered that the 
 person whose skeleton was before us was a white Lamanite, a 
 large, thick-set man, and a man of God. He was a warrior and 
 chieftain under the great prophet Omandagus, who was known 
 from the hill Cumorah, or Eastern Sea, to the Rocky Mountains. 
 His name was Zelph. The curse was taken from him, or at least 
 in part; one of his thigh bones was broken by a stone flung from 
 a sling, while in battle years before his death. He was killed in 
 battle by the arrow found among his ribs, during the last great 
 struggle of the Lamanites and Nephites." 
 
 Our camp was made at Brother Burget's on the 23rd of June, 
 1834. Of the night of the 24th of June the Prophet writes : 
 
 "This night the cholera burst forth among us, and about 
 midnight it was manifest in its most terrified form. Our ears 
 were saluted with cries and moanings and lamentations on every 
 hand; even those on guard fell to the earth with their guns in 
 their hands, so sudden and powerful was the attack of this terrible 
 disease. At the commencement I attempted to lay on hands for 
 their recovery, but I quickly learned by painful experience that 
 when the Great Jehovah decrees destruction upon any people, makes 
 known His determination, man must not attempt to stay His hand. 
 The moment I attempted to rebuke this disease, that moment I was 
 attacked, and had I not desisted, I must have saved the life of 
 my brother by the sacrifice of my own, for when I rebuked the 
 disease it left him and seized me. 
 
 "When the cholera made its appearance, Elder John S. Carter 
 was the first man who stepped forward to rebuke it, and upon 
 this, was immediately seized and became the first victim of the 
 
THE PROPHETIC FATE OF PERSECUTING NATIONS 291 
 
 camp. He died about six o'clock in the afternoon, and Seth 
 Hitchcock died in about thirty minutes after. As it was impossible 
 to obtain coffins, the brethren rolled them in blankets, carried 
 them on a horse sled about half a mile and buried them in the bank 
 of a small stream which empties into Rush Creek, all of which was 
 accomplished by dark. 
 
 "When they had returned from the burial, the brethren united, 
 covenanted and prayed, hoping the disease would be stayed ; but in 
 vain, for while thus covenanting, Eber Wilcox died, and while 
 some were digging the grave others stood sentry with their fire 
 arms, watching their enemies. 
 
 "The cholera," he states, "continued its ravages about four 
 days, when an effectual remedy for their purging, vomiting and 
 cramping was discovered, viz. : dipping the person afflicted in 
 cold water, or pouring it upon him. About sixty-eight of the Saints 
 suffered from this disease, of which number thirteen died, viz. : 
 John S. Carter, Eber Wilcox, Seth Hitchcock, Erastus Rudd, 
 Algernon Sidney Gilbert, Alfred Fisk, Edward Ives, Noah Johnson, 
 Jesse B. Lawson, Robert McCard, Elial Strong, Jesse Smith and 
 Betsy Parish." 
 
 With regard to the disbanding of the camp Joseph writes: 
 "Early in the morning of the 25th the camp was separated into 
 small bands and dispersed among brethren living in the vicinity." 
 
 Our last encampment was made on Rush Creek, in brother 
 Burget's field. It was the ending of a long, arduous and fatiguing 
 journey of over one thousand miles, mostly performed on foot, 
 over roads variegated by dust and mud, and crossing streams of 
 both small and large dimensions. 
 
 It being in the warm season of the year, much suffering was 
 necessarily endured by being necessitated, the most of us at least, 
 to walk, unsheltered from the broiling sun. Sometimes, for a little 
 season, we endured both hunger and thirst, but this class of suffer- 
 ing came upon us generally when we were out of the reach of 
 settlements or too far away from the flowing creeks or springs of 
 water. This was our condition sometimes while crossing wide prairies 
 were but sparsely inhabited. But before entering upon districts 
 of country of that description, if we were successful in obtaining 
 the correct information in time, we purchased from the people 
 sufficient supplies of food and filled our vessels with water, which 
 of course prevented, to a considerable extent at least, hunger and 
 thirst. 
 
 Sometimes we had met with friends, but often with enemies, 
 who either thirsted for the blood of our leaders or desired calami- 
 ties should befall us. 
 
 As to the genuine character of Joseph Smith as a just and 
 honorable man and an inspired Prophet, estimated among the 
 prophets of early times he is not and will not rank as being inferior 
 to any. This man who led us in Zion's Camp and to whom we all 
 listened with the profoundest convictions that he was inspired by 
 God has been the recipient of all the keys of dispensations held by 
 prophets of old, and the revelations of Jesus Christ declare that 
 those keys shall not be taken from him. Instructor, Vol. 27. 
 
CHAPTER 16 
 
 Physical and Mental Sufferings of Persecutors 
 
 A MOBOCRAT COMES TO UTAH 
 
 Affidavit of William H. Chappell, now residing in Coalville, 
 Summit County, Utah, concerning a member of the mob that killed 
 the Prophet Joseph Smith. 
 
 About the year 1892, when I was eighteen years of age (hav- 
 ing been born on the 29th of April, 1874), and living in what was 
 then known as East Coalville ward but now known as Cluff ward), 
 an old man by the name of Brooks moved into that neighborhood 
 and lived neighbor to my father, William E. Chappell. This old 
 man had a son by the name of Alf Brooks who was some four years 
 older than I. As I remember, it was a little log house in which he 
 lived. The old man used to come to my father's home, sit on the 
 porch and talk to my father. The conversation turned to pioneer 
 stories and of Joseph Smith the Prophet. On one particular even- 
 ing after my father had talked about Joseph Smith, the old man 
 Brooks said : "Mr. Chappell, I saw the last bullet shot into the old 
 boy." After Mr. Brooks had gone to his cabin, my father said: 
 "No wonder he is a miserable old soul. If he saw the last bullet 
 shot into Joseph Smith, he was in that mob. If he was in that mob, 
 it has been prophesied that he will suffer all kinds of torment, his 
 limbs shall rot off of his body and he will not have courage to take 
 his own life." 
 
 Before this conversation occurred, I had taken no notice of the 
 old man but I had been rather friendly and chummy with his son ; 
 but after this conversation I took particular notice of the old man 
 and how he suffered. The old man had a belt which he wore around 
 his waist which the son would take off, then beat the old man with 
 it just to hear him scream and when beating him the son would 
 laugh and profane and seemed to enjoy it. All of this I saw. The 
 old man was crippled and could walk only with the aid of two 
 sticks — one in each hand and without the aid of these he was 
 totally helpless and unable to walk. The cause of this crippled 
 condition was unknown to me. The son would drive the old man 
 up to the coal mine dump about three or four hundred yards from 
 their cabin like he would drive cattle and fill sacks with coal, tie 
 the sacks on the old man's back and drive him back to the cabin. 
 The old man would beg his son not to fill the sacks too full of coal. 
 If he would not go fast enough the son would whip him with his 
 belt which he had taken from the father before going for the coal. 
 They lived in this cabin for some two years and then moved to 
 Coalville, into a house near where the present Beth White hot dog 
 stand is now located. While living here his toes rotted off his feet. 
 Later, a Dr. Cannon, then living in Coalville, and who owned a 
 ranch in Weber canyon about eight miles above Oakley, made ar- 
 
PHYSICAL AND MENTAL SUFFERINGS OF PERSECUTORS 293 
 
 rangements with this old man and his son to start a chicken ranch 
 on Dr. Cannon's premises, onto which the father and son moved. 
 About that time my sister, Elizabeth Chappell, married Thomas 
 Wilde and he owned a ranch adjoining Dr. Cannon's and lived 
 about four hundred yards from where the old man and his son 
 lived. In the spring, Dr. Cannon made inquiry concerning the 
 disappearance of the chickens on the farm and the old man replied 
 that "The skunks had eaten them up." To which Dr. Cannon re- 
 plied : "You are the biggest skunk." 
 
 The son would often leave his father for three or four days 
 and sometimes a week without any food. I was up to my brother- 
 in-law's ranch one fall, in November, when an eight inch snow fell, 
 the weather clearing up in the afternoon, and dropping to zero 
 weather by night. My brother-in-law and I took over an extra 
 quilt and some supper to the old man and also chopped wood which 
 we piled close to the stove so that he could handily keep the fire 
 going during the night without getting out of bed. After return- 
 ing home later in the night, I heard him screaming. I awoke my 
 brother-in-law and he said : "Don't take notice of him ; he always 
 screams like that." When we got up the next morning, we looked 
 towards his cabin and saw that the house was gone. We immediate- 
 ly went to where his cabin had been and found it had burned to the 
 ground during the night. All of the old man's clothes had burned 
 off of him and he was burned all over his body from his feet to the 
 top of his head. He was alive and lay curled up in the ashes of 
 the burned cabin, trying to keep warm. We secured some quilts 
 and with team and sleigh we took him to Peoa where we found the 
 son. The people of Peoa took up a collection which amounted to 
 five dollars, gave it to the son and told him to go to Park City for the 
 particular medicine he was directed to buy. With the money the 
 son bought liquor and became drunk and did not return for four 
 days. The old man died on the fourth day after he was burned, 
 before his son returned. His remains were interred in the Peoa 
 cemetery. The son was ordered out of the country and he left 
 immediately for parts unknown. Signed . william H . Chappell 
 State of Utah 
 
 County of Summit S ss * 
 
 William H. Chappell being duly sworn, deposes and says that 
 the foregoing statement is a true recital of events as they occurred 
 and happened according to his knowledge to which other living 
 witnesses can also testify. 
 
 In witness whereof, he has set his hand and signature this 
 28th day of September, 1948. Chas L. Frost, County Clerk 
 
 in and for the County of Summit, State of Utah. 
 
 Coalville, Utah, November 6, 1948 
 
 I, Joseph H. Wilde, was present when my brother, Thomas 
 
 Wilde and others, took the blankets to the cabin to cover the old 
 
 man as stated in the above affidavit. The old man was an habitual 
 
 user of chewing tobacco and upon this occasion my brother had pur- 
 
294 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 chased a plug for him and presented it to him. The old man thought 
 it was a revolver that was being shoved towards him and ex- 
 claimed : "For God's sake don't shoot me." I was a little boy when 
 these things happened but I can distinctly remember the old man 
 referring to the Prophet Joseph Smith as "old Joe Smith." Although 
 this man was implicated in the murder of the Prophet Joseph, yet 
 the Latter-day Saints who resided in this vicinity were very con- 
 siderate and brought food and clothing to him, particularly was 
 this true of my brother Thomas Wilde who resided but a short 
 distance from the cabin in which the old man, Mr. Brooks, lived. 
 His son, Alf . Brooks, helped my brother during the haying season 
 and ate dinner at his home when so employed. 
 
 Signed : Joseph H. Wilde 
 Signature witnessed by : 
 Mrs. Joseph H. Wilde 
 N. B. Lundwall 
 
 THIRTEEN MOBOCRATS MEET A COMMON FATE 
 
 Martha James Cragun (who married Isaiah Cox) was born 
 March 3, 1852, in Mill Creek, Salt Lake County, Utah. In October, 
 1862, they received a call to go to the Dixie country as pioneers and 
 in May Gt. grandfather James Cragun, his wife (Eleanor Lane 
 Cragun) and family started for Dixie. Martha Cox received her 
 schooling there by going to school and working on the side. She started 
 teaching in 1868 and was married Dec. 6, 1869 in the Salt Lake 
 Endowment House by Pres. Daniel H. Wells. She resumed teaching 
 as soon as they returned from Salt Lake City and taught in St. 
 George off and on until the 31st of August, 1881, when she arrived 
 in the Muddy Valley. 
 
 From Diary of J. C. Cox 
 
 The trustees of the Muddy Valley school had notified me that 
 they expected to open their school September 1st. I was there 
 August 31.*** The next morning after my arrival I visited the 
 trustees at the place where the school house was in course of erec- 
 tion. I introduced myself as their contemplated school "marm." 
 There was Mr. McGuire, the leading trustee, who was a tall Irish- 
 man, sitting when I first came up, on a large stone which was to be 
 used as a hearth stone in the building, but who stood up with a 
 pipe with long stem held in his drooling mouth. He removed his 
 hat and scratched his shaggy head while he informed me that it 
 would be three weeks before they would be ready for me. 
 
 I asked what preparation was needed for readiness. They said 
 only the finishing of the house and this had only the walls partly 
 up. I looked at Morgan, the second trustee, a great massive form 
 of fat, muscle and bone, whose business it seemed was to haul in 
 the material while Ute Perkins whom I knew as an old St. Georger 
 had the business of putting the mortar and adobies together. I 
 told them if that was all they needed, the school need not wait a 
 day for with such beautiful weather a class seated under the beau- 
 tiful cottonwood trees by the side of the lovely clear stream could 
 have no better place for learning and if they would assent to it 7 
 
PHYSICAL AND MENTAL SUFFERINGS OF PERSECUTORS 295 
 
 would open school the next morning under the trees. McGuire re- 
 ceived my proposition with a doubtful look but that was dispelled 
 when I smilingly told him I could teach all I knew under the cotton- 
 wood trees. So it was arranged. An old man named Roscoe owned 
 a cabin hard by, just across the little creek with a clean hard door 
 yard that reached to the creek bank. Directly across the stream 
 was a level space shaded by three beautiful trees. Here they brought 
 a few of the school desks and Mr. Roscoe loaned me an old table 
 for my use. The pupils hung bonnets and hats on nails driven in 
 the trees, where I also contrived to hang my black board which I 
 had always retained from the time I had it converted from a bread- 
 board for my very first school. That afternoon, Sept. 1st, I regis- 
 tered nine pupils. 
 
 An outsider by the name of Logan, the other trustee, living at 
 a place that still bears his name, retained his children — would not 
 send them to be taught by a "Mormon," besides the school house was 
 not being built in the right place as he saw it. The trustees asked 
 me to visit him which I did. He told me he withheld assistance on 
 the house building because it was not placed on the right spot and 
 would not send his children so far to the school and he lived at least 
 five miles away. But he made no reference to the teacher. His 
 tobacco drooling from his mouth and his otherwise stinking per- 
 son was disgusting and Sister Whitmore and myself soon took our 
 leave. I felt that I had at least one mortal enemy in the valley. 
 He told me also that I would have trouble about getting my pay 
 and told me I had better withdraw and leave the valley. I was not 
 at all frightened. 
 
 At a meeting in Saint Thomas (Nevada) called of all the people 
 to consider the wants of the school and the "Mormon" teacher, each 
 citizen was asked to give his mind on the Mormon question — neith- 
 er Mrs. Whitmore nor myself were invited so we were not present. 
 At this meeting all except Logan decided to sustain me. One man 
 a "Jack Reed" an old man who was respected in the valley, living 
 then in St. Thomas, said in this meeting that he was a member of 
 the mob who martyred the prophet. He was about fifteen years 
 old at the time. He said he took his gun and marched proudly to 
 Carthage and took part in the killing of the two prophets. Mrs. 
 McGuire related to me what he said ; then told me also that her own 
 father was one of the mobbers who tarred and feathered the proph- 
 et and she told me she thought I was too smart a woman to be a 
 Mormon. 
 
 I had my abode with Sister Whitmore. I was expected to help 
 with the work of the house to pay my room. This I did satisfactor- 
 ily, but it was a difficult thing to find my food. I soon ran out of 
 flour and had to borrow from my friends. I did the milking and 
 cared for the milk for a portion of the milk. It was hard for the 
 folks to find a way to send me supplies. I made arrangement with 
 Sister Whitmore to let me do more work and give me meals. I did 
 some peculiar work. I picked cotton on Saturday and put in one 
 day of work cutting sunflowers. 
 
 About the last of September I heard that Jack Reed was very 
 
296 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 sick of a strange ailment. He was taken ill in a few days after 
 having made the statement that he took part in the affair at 
 Carthage — but no one had told me of his sickness until I heard 
 it from one of my Indian friends who said he had worms in his 
 flesh. I determined to see him if I could and try to get him to verify 
 the statement he had made at the meeting. The man had no family 
 and Mr. McGuire was his attendant. I asked Mr. McGuire if he 
 would allow Mrs. Whitmore and myself to visit Mr. Reed. He said 
 that Mr. Reed was a sight that no white woman could be allowed 
 to look upon. He was literally eaten alive by worms. His eye balls 
 had fallen out, the flesh on his cheeks and neck had fallen off and 
 though he could breathe he could take nourishment only through 
 an opening in his throat, and said McGuire, "Pieces of flesh as large 
 as my two hands have fallen off from different parts of his body." 
 The sick man's farm was given to the white men who attended him 
 in the first of his ailment. Finally when they could no longer en- 
 dure the ordeal the Indians were called in to pour water into his 
 throat and give him whatever other attention they could and these 
 received the sick man's bunch of horses for their pay. When he 
 finally passed the Indians carried out the awful remains by the 
 four corners of the blanket upon which he had lain for weeks, and 
 lowered that into the box the white men had prepared. The blanket 
 was tucked in over him and the box quickly nailed up and put into 
 the deep grave as soon as possible. No funeral was held. Beside 
 Reed, Mr. Logan was backed by another man, a lawyer named 
 McGarrigle. I had gathered the idea that this bunch of enemies 
 were heading a petition against me because I was a polygamist. 
 But during Reed's sickness all talk of Mormons seemed to die down. 
 It was not for a long time, some years afterwards, that I learned 
 the cause of the qualm. One called "Jack Longstreet" became 
 Reed's first attendant in company with McGuire. To these men 
 Reed confessed that his participation in the murder of the Prophets 
 was the cause of his affliction. He said to Longstreet: "It is the 
 Mormon curse that is upon me. I cannot live — / must utterly rot 
 before I die." He said that Brigham Young had pronounced that 
 curse upon all that mob, and he had known thirteen of them to die 
 just as he was dying. But he had lived so long and had passed the 
 unlucky number thirteen, that he thought to escape the curse. He 
 charged his attendants to never do anything against the Mormons, 
 to be their friends, or said he, "You may suffer the Mormon curse." 
 Longstreet related this to Mrs. Emma Huntsman, with whom he 
 often stopped, this confession of Reed's as a ivarning to her and 
 declared that he himself would not dare to raise a hand against 
 them. I don't think he ever did. 
 
 STATEMENT OF GEORGE E. KING 
 
 (Dictated to N. B. Lundwall, at the farm home of Mr. King, 
 near Garland, Utah, on August 4, 1950.) 
 
 During the early summer of 1925, I was a graduate student 
 and half-time faculty member of the University of Illinois. As 
 
PHYSICAL AND MENTAL SUFFERINGS OF PERSECUTORS 297 
 
 was frequently my practice, I was doing- some extracurricular 
 work for a friend at the home of Seth Howe, in Champaign, Illi- 
 nois. Casually Mr. Howe and I, in conversation, discussed our per- 
 sonal beliefs. He asked me if I was a Methodist, a Baptist, a Pres- 
 byterian, a Roman Catholic, and mentioned other faiths but did 
 not ask me if I was a Mormon. I was glad to have the freedom 
 of questioning him, which I would not have had if he had known 
 my belief. At one remark of mine, he stated that my belief seemed 
 to be something like the Mormon belief. As he did not suspect that 
 I was a Mormon, I was able to ask him some questions and obtain 
 answers freely; whereas he would not have volunteered the infor- 
 mation he gave me had he known I was a Mormon. 
 
 The opening of this conversation was by me asking him : "What 
 do you know about the Mormons ?" He replied that he did not 
 know very much about their belief, but stated that his grandmother 
 Howe had once belonged to the Mormon church. Further question- 
 ing disclosed the following information: Missionaries during the 
 life of the Prophet Joseph Smith had found the Howe family in one 
 of the settlements in the southern part of Illinois. Mrs. Howe 
 joined the church and desired to go to Nauvoo. Her husband bit- 
 terly objected to her gathering with the body of the church. As 
 they had a large family he seemed to feel that if he left home she 
 would not desert the children, which of course proved true ; but in 
 his leaving home he joined himself to the mobs which were persecut- 
 ing the saints. The statement of Seth Howe had a lasting impres- 
 sion on me as he related : "My grandfather was one of the leaders 
 of the mob which murdered Joe Smith." I questioned him further 
 as to what became of his grandfather afterwards. He related that 
 following the assassination of Joseph Smith his grandfather never 
 saw a well day, although he lived for several years afterwards. 
 His condition grew progressively worse and physicians of the day 
 who called to attend him were unable to diagnose it as any known 
 affliction, but his suffering w T as so intense that he frequently ex- 
 pressed the desire to obtain poison to end it all. His family very 
 carefully kept anything of that nature out of his reach and at his 
 final demise he actually had rotted alive, finally dying in intense 
 agony. 
 
 In verification of the above statement, I hereunto sign my 
 name this 4th day of August, 1950. 
 
 Signed : George E. King 
 Witnesses : 
 Lillian E. King 
 N. B. Lundwall 
 
 A MOBOCRAT ROAMS WESTERN SHEEP RANGES 
 
 By Thomas Nichols 
 
 In the summer of 1887, 1 was herding sheep up in Bedue Creek, 
 which empties into the Weber River, just below the lower bridge. 
 One day a little boy about nine to eleven years of age, came to my 
 camp. He was very dirty and shabbily dressed and was very shy. 
 
298 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 I noticed he was watching me very closely as I busied myself pre- 
 paring my dinner. I asked him if he was hungry. He did not an- 
 swer me, but in a few minutes he went to the creek and went 
 through the motions of washing his hands. When he came back 
 to the camp I looked at him and smiled at him. I then told him I 
 would let him have some soap and a wash basin so he could give 
 his face and hands a good wash. He looked at his hands and smiled 
 at me ; took the articles mentioned and ran back to the creek. When 
 he came back to me he was partly clean. When the dinner was 
 ready I asked the blessing on it. The lad looked at me in wonder but 
 as he did not speak a word I gave him a generous supply of fried 
 potatoes, onions, lamb and bread. He ate it very quickly, got up 
 and ran down the creek and was gone. In a few days he came 
 again and made for the creek once more. This time he was not 
 so shy. He gathered wood for the fire and brought water for the 
 camp. He did not say a word until I had given him his dinner. 
 Then he said very quietly, "Thank you." I asked him where he 
 came from. He just pointed down to the river. I asked his name. 
 He said : "Jim," and was gone again. He visited me several times. 
 On one of his visits I asked him if he did not get enough to eat. 
 His reply was: "Sometimes grandpa has some and sometimes he 
 did not. Grandpa snares rabbits and catches fish but mostly his 
 feet hurt him and he did not try." I gave him flour and mutton to 
 take home with him. The next day he came again and asked if I 
 had coffee. "Grandpa wants some and some tobacco." I explained 
 to him that I did not use either one. 
 
 I decided that I would visit the grandfather. I found him in 
 an abandoned cabin situated in a grove of aspens. He was not very 
 friendly. The little boy told him I was the man that sent the food 
 to him. Then he came and sat down on a bench outside the cabin. 
 I noticed that he had several bad sores on his face and that his hands 
 were wrapped in rags. I asked him his name but he did not an- 
 swer. He finally told me he was from the east and had drifted 
 west. I asked him if he was a timber man or a prospector. He 
 said, no. Then I asked him what was his object in coming to Utah 
 and up here in the Weber canyon. He said: "I don't know. I just 
 drifted here and this cabin was empty so I decided to stay a spell." 
 After talking to him in a general way for a while I started to leave. 
 He then asked me to give him some mutton tallow to put on his 
 sores. I said, "Send the boy up and I will give him some." I noticed 
 that the lower part of one ear was gone, a part of the left side of 
 his nose had rotted away, and there were other repulsive sores on 
 his face. He showed me his hands. There was very little solid 
 flesh on them. I expressed my sympathy for him and he said his 
 feet were worse than his hands. I asked him what had caused all 
 this trouble and he replied : "I don't know unless it was a curse God 
 had placed on me." He said some men had told him that was it, be- 
 cause he was with the men who killed Joe Smith, the Mormon 
 Prophet. "I guess that is the main reason I drifted out here; I 
 wanted to know how the Mormons made out without Joe Smith to 
 lead them." 
 
PHYSICAL AND MENTAL SUFFERINGS OF PERSECUTORS 299 
 
 THOMAS FORD 
 
 Thomas Ford (Dec. 5, 1800-Nov. 3, 1850), governor of Illinois, 
 was born in Fayette County, Pa. His father was Robert Ford, of a 
 Maryland family. His mother, Elizabeth, was the daughter of Hugh 
 Logue and Isabella Delaney, both natives of Ireland. By a former 
 marriage she was the mother of George Forquer, who by the time 
 of his death in 1837 had risen to be the Jackson leader in Illinois. 
 Robert Ford died in 1803, and the next year his widow removed first 
 to St. Louis, then to New Design in the future Monroe County, 111. 
 Despite the straitened circumstances of the family, Thomas Ford 
 managed to get a common-school education. Later his half-brother 
 helped him to spend a year at Transylvania University; then with 
 the encouragement of Daniel P. Cook he studied law. After a term of 
 practice in Waterloo, 111., he set up with Forquer in partnership at 
 Edwardsville, 1825-29, and for the following six years, 1829-35, he 
 served as state's attorney at Galena and Quincy, 111. On Jan. 14, 
 1835, he was elected circuit judge by the state legislature, serving 
 until Mar. 4, 1837, when he resigned to become judge of the Chicago 
 municipal court. He was again elected circuit judge, Feb. 23, 1839. 
 When the Democratic general assembly reorganized the state supreme 
 court to swamp a Whig majority, he was elected to the court Feb. 
 15, 1841, and held office till he resigned to run for governor in 1842. 
 Ford apparently took no active part in politics until 1842. In the 
 latter year the Whig and Democratic nominees for governor, Joseph 
 Duncan and Adam W. Snyder, had long and vulnerable records 
 to defend. The Democratic loss was therefore more apparent than 
 real when Snyder died May 14, 1842. The leaders of the party turned 
 to Ford, and after ten days' entreaty he consented to run. With no 
 chance to gather ammunition for the election on August 1, the Whigs 
 lost to Ford by a vote of 39,020 to 46,507. (T.C. Pease, Illinois Election 
 Returns, 1923, p. 126.) At the end of his term, though he was asked 
 to run against Douglas for the Senate, he resumed the practice of 
 law at Peoria. Unfortunately he was overtaken by tuberculosis, and 
 at his death in 1850 was virtually dependent on charity. His wife, 
 Frances Hambaugh, whom he had married on June 12, 1828, was 
 worn out by nursing him and died a few weeks before him. He left 
 five children for whose financial benefit he had some time before begun 
 his History of Illinois from its Commencement as a State in 1818 to 
 1847. It was finally published under the auspices of James Shields 
 in 1854. — Dictionary of American Biography (N.Y. Schribner's 1931), 
 v. 6, pp. 520-521. 
 
 "From this resume of public affairs we turn to Governor 
 Ford's private and domestic concerns. Of his diffidence enough 
 has been said. Ballance [Charles. History of Peoria, 1870, pp. 
 254-55], who knew and was sharply critical of him, draws this 
 picture of his personal characteristics: 'He was a small man with 
 features indicating one from the lower rather than the upper 
 walks of life. His nose was rather sharp and bent a little to one 
 side. He was plain and unpretending in his manners. He was no 
 orator in the common acceptance of the word; but what he said 
 was to the point ... He reasoned well, not so much by any show 
 of logic as by clever distinct statements. Though his mind was 
 not far-reaching, it was never in a cloud. Whatever he saw, he 
 saw clearly ... He was not religious in the common acceptance 
 of the word; yet up to his forty-second year he lived as pure a 
 life as any man I know/ 
 
 "The qualification is significant, for Ford's 'forty-second' 
 year was the one in which he became governor. The same neigh- 
 
300 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 bor and critic relates that during his term in office 'the harpies 
 about the capitol' led him into habits which hastened his death, 
 and which he vainly strove to reform. These statements, if true, 
 shed light upon the conditions, physical and otherwise, attending 
 the writing of the History. At the expiration of his term as Gov- 
 ernor in January, 1846, Ford retired to his father-in-law's farm 
 to devote himself to this task, and mid-April, 1847, saw it prac- 
 tically completed. 
 
 "He had already planned to remove to Peoria to take up anew 
 the practice of law. Peoria was one of the few even moderately 
 sizable cities of Illinois, and Ford's long service as state's attorney 
 and judge in northern Illinois had given him an extensive ac- 
 quaintance throughout the entire region. Yet the story of his 
 three year's sojourn there is one of unrelieved poverty and defeat, 
 Mrs. Ford, afflicted with cancer, died October 12, 1850 at the 
 early age of thirty-eight. Three weeks later, on November 3, he 
 followed her to the grave.* Left behind were five orphaned chil- 
 dren, penniless and of tender years, to face the world as best they 
 might. "To the credit of common humanity, all were taken in 
 charge by considerate townsmen, and reared in homes which were 
 better than their own father could provide. In his closing weeks 
 he had been an object of charity, and his funeral expenses were 
 met by the gifts of a group of citizens." 
 
 History of Illinois, edited by M. M. Quaife. Chicago, R. R. Donelley & 
 Sons Co., 1945. v. 1:24-27, "Historical Introduction." 
 
 RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE 
 
 (Incidents compiled by Lyman 0. Littlefield) 
 
 A testimony published in the latter part of 1874: "A lady 
 was invited to attend a Methodist church at Peoria, Illinois, and 
 noticing a rough box or coffin resting under the pulpit, inquired 
 concerning it, and was informed that it enclosed the remains of 
 the wife of ex-Governor Ford, and was supplied at the public ex- 
 pense. Ford was present, and he looked gaunt and miserable, and 
 his bones appeared ready to pierce through the skin. Two weeks 
 later, the lady attended again, and was astonished to see a similar 
 coffin in the same place. It contained all that was left of Governor 
 Ford, who had for some time lived, and had now died, a pauper. 
 The lady who saw this, though she had left the "Mormon" church, 
 remembered hearing Elder John Taylor say in Nauvoo, that "Gov- 
 ernor Ford would live until the flesh would wither from his bones 
 and he would die a pauper." 
 
 Also, a few days after the appearance of the above notice, the 
 following account of the tragic fate of Governor Ford's son, 
 Thomas, appeared in print, and may be set down among the many 
 cases where the sins of the fathers are visited upon the children: 
 
 "Ford's children, in consequence of his poverty, were adopted 
 
 *His death was commonly ascribed to tuberculosis. Ballance, however, 
 writing in 1870, firmly insists that his relatively early demise was caused by 
 the bad habits acquired at Springfield. Apparently this means over-indul- 
 gence in liquor. 
 
PHYSICAL AND MENTAL SUFFERINGS OF PERSECUTORS 301 
 
 by different citizens, Thomas being taken care of by Hon. Thos. 
 E. Moore of Peoria. The young man served in the army, and after- 
 wards moved to Kansas, where, with an elder brother, he fol- 
 lowed various occupations, principally driving large herds of 
 stock from the South. 
 
 "Last July he was going to Caldwell and stopped at a ranch 
 for refreshment. Here he was watched by two armed men, and, 
 after proceeding about a mile, was suddenly seized by three men 
 before he could defend himself. They took him for one of the 
 cattle stealers, with which the state was infested, and, in spite of 
 his protestations, prayers and appeals for an investigation, they 
 proceeded to hang him to the limb of a tree. He told them he was 
 the son of ex-Governor Ford, but they laughed him to scorn and 
 refused to examine his papers." The Martyrs, pp. 109-10. 
 
 THE UNKEPT GRAVE OF THOMAS FORD 
 
 Last week an Illinois public man at the state capitol com- 
 mented on the neglect shown to the grave of one who once was 
 governor of the state and the Peoria Journal takes up the subject, 
 describing how the ex-governor's grave, as well as the whole lot, 
 in which rest his wife and youngest daughter, is uncared for. It 
 says that all around it the grass has been carefully mown, and 
 every lot in the vicinity has been kept in good order, but not a 
 single touch has been bestowed upon the lot sacred to the memory 
 of a former governor of the great state of Illinois. The cemetery 
 authorities complained that no money had been given them for 
 the purpose, and neither state nor city, nor any private citizen 
 of state or city had furnished any money. About $60.00 is required 
 as a fund to keep the loc in order. Occasionally there has been 
 talk of raising a subscription for the purpose from the citizens 
 of Peoria, but nobody has taken the initiative. Occasionally it 
 has been proposed to secure an appropriation from the legisla- 
 ture, but no one has felt sufficiently interested to take the matter 
 in charge. 
 
 The statement is made that it is proposed to secure such an 
 appropriation at this session; but that meanwhile the cemetery 
 authorities have remained obdurate, and have steadfastly refused 
 to bestow a stroke of work upon the lot. Weeds, tall grass and 
 brush have luxuriated thick and rank within the entire lot to an 
 extent that renders it uncomfortable to walk about in it. Around 
 the lot has grown a thick hedge of evergreen from ten to fifteen 
 feet high, irregular and unkempt — never trimmed. Evergreen 
 trees, higher than the hedge, stand on each side of the entrance. 
 A still taller evergreen spreads its branches wide at the rear of 
 the lot. From some points a glimpse of the top of the monu- 
 ment, erected by the state at a cost of $500, can be obtained, but 
 elsewhere nothing within the hedge is visible. Few people who 
 drive or stroll along the avenue are aware that the remains of a 
 former governor of Illinois reposes there. In such neglect have 
 the people of Peoria allowed Thomas Ford's grave to remain. 
 
 Millennial Star, 57:134. 
 
302 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 FATE PURSUES FAMILY OF GOV. FORD, ILLINOIS 
 
 Peoria, 111., March 20.— Without the last rites of the Church, 
 and with only four mourners surrounding the grave, the body of 
 Mrs. Anna Davies, who died a pauper in the Deaconess home in 
 Lincoln, 111., Thursday, was buried here at twilight tonight. 
 
 Mrs. Davies was the only surviving daughter of former Gov- 
 ernor Thomas Ford of Illinois, who likewise died in poverty. 
 
 The spectre of poverty that has beset the family for half a 
 century also found a victim in Mrs. Davies' only daughter, Mrs. 
 Watson of Oskaloosa, la., who for weeks before her mother's death 
 sought funds with which to purchase a coffin. Up to the time of 
 Mrs. Davies' death the daughter had been unsuccessful in her 
 quest, but following the demise citizens of Lincoln contributed 
 enough to make possible the obsequies that took place tonight. 
 
 It was while under the plighted protection of the state of 
 of Illinois, as represented by Governor Ford, that the Prophet 
 Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were murdered in Carthage 
 jail, June 27, 1844. Elder John Taylor, who was with the martyrs 
 at the time and was himself desperately wounded, gave utterance 
 shortly afterwards to a prophecy concerning Governor Ford, the 
 literal fulfillment of which in its utmost detail, is thus recorded. 
 
 Newspaper reference indistinct: Sept. 24. 
 
 A TRUE PICTURE OF GOV. FORD 
 
 By George Q. Cannon 
 
 Even after the lapse of nearly thirty-six years, one can not 
 read the history of the last days of Joseph Smith without a feel- 
 ing of indignation rising towards the miserable creature who 
 acted, at that time, as Governor of the State. Thomas Ford is a name 
 that will live in history side by side with that of Pontius Pilate. 
 He was an imbecile. A more pliant, short-sighted, weak tool could 
 not have been found, to suit the purposes of the mob, if the 
 country had been searched. He was full of pompous littleness, 
 and the leaders of the mob humored his weak conceit. By this 
 means, they used him, and he was more serviceable to them, with- 
 out knowing their plans, than if they had explained them to him. 
 
 Governor Ford was deaf to all reason. He was surrounded 
 by apostates and the worst enemies of the Saints. On his arrival 
 at Carthage, he had ordered the entire mob into service. He heard 
 their imprecations and their threats, and saw their violence and 
 outrageous conduct; but instead of being disgusted with them, 
 they suited him. He adopted, as the truth, every lie and misrep- 
 resentation that the mob circulated. The delegates, whom he 
 wished the Mayor and City Council of Nauvoo to send to him, he 
 treated with great rudeness. When they attempted to make the 
 necessary statements and explanations, he suffered them to be 
 interrupted and insulted by the vile crew who were his compan- 
 ions. Even the communications which they brought were read to 
 him in the presence of these villains, who frequently interrupted 
 the reading by their cursing! Instructor, Vol. 15. 
 
PHYSICAL AND MENTAL SUFFERINGS OF PERSECUTORS 303 
 
 ANOTHER MURDERER'S END 
 
 Elder James H. Moyle, writing from the Southern States, in 
 August, 1881, says: 
 
 "Bro. W. C. Burton and I met a citizen of North Carolina, 
 named Brown, who claims to be one of the mob that committed 
 the soul-destroying crime of shedding the innocent, unoffending 
 blood of an anointed prophet of God. He says that he lived in 
 Quincy, Illinois, and admits that it was a rich and productive 
 country, but with all its charms he did not seem to have content- 
 ment, as he has been wandering from place to place ever since, 
 as though in search of an asylum for a troubled conscience. He is 
 now settled in one of the poorest of poor districts, where he is so 
 situated that he can go no farther, and where he is scarcely able 
 to earn a subsistence. 
 
 "During the extremely cold weather last winter, some of his 
 little children were totally destitute of clothing. The neighbors, 
 moved with compassion, collected some old clothes and necessaries 
 of life, and sent them. 
 
 "While we should be far, far from despising the poor for their 
 poverty, I cannot help thinking of the saying of the Psalmist: "I 
 have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the right- 
 eous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread." 
 
 "This man has not been wandering from cruel religious perse- 
 cution, but, I think, to ease a restless and discontented mind." 
 
 The Martyrs, pp. 111-112. 
 
 A MOBOCRAT IN EARLY CALIFORNIA HISTORY 
 
 Daniel Tyler, in his "History of the Mormon Battalion," in 
 writing of San Diego, says: 
 
 "Near the foreigners' burying ground resided a miserable 
 specimen of humanity, who stole and begged from door to door. 
 He was one of the most forlorn of human beings. He acknowl- 
 edged to having been engaged in the Haun's Mill massacre, and 
 begged our people to forgive him. He claimed to have been one 
 of Fremont's party, and said he had been among the. Rocky Moun- 
 tains for the last seven years." 
 
 The following statement is furnished by Brother Joel Par- 
 rish, of Centerville, Utah: 
 
 "In March, 1877, in company with Elder Charles F. Middle- 
 ton, I passed through Carthage, Hancock County, Illinois, enroute 
 for St. Louis. We tarried there a sufficient length of time to visit 
 the Carthage jail, where our lamented Prophet and Patriarch, 
 Joseph and Hyrum Smith, were murdered. We visited a Mr. 
 Browning, who then owned and occupied, as his family residence, 
 the old rock building, or jail, where the prisoners referred to were 
 confined. This building was no longer needed as a jail, a new and 
 larger one having been built. Mr. Browning and lady entertained 
 us over night, treated us very kindly, and stated that any of our 
 Elders, passing through, would be welcome to be entertained by 
 them. 
 
304 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 "The room where the prisoners were murdered was, at that 
 time, used as a parlor. We were taken therein and shown the 
 arrangement of the room. The bullet hole in the door, made by 
 the fatal ball that struck Hyrum Smith at the left side of the 
 nose, had been filled with putty, but was plainly to be seen. There 
 being a carpet on the floor, we could not see the bloodstains where 
 the murdered Patriarch fell, but we were assured that they were 
 still there. The stains of blood on the walls, also, were obscured, 
 as the room had been white-washed. The jail had been painted 
 and kept in good repair. 
 
 "We were asked by Mr. Browning if we would like to see 'the 
 wickedest man in Illinois/ having reference to the notorious Thos. 
 C. Sharp, who was then publishing a paper in Carthage. We re- 
 plied that we wpuld not object to seeing him without an intro- 
 duction or being under any necessity of shaking his hand. With 
 this understanding, we went with Mr. Browning to Sharp's office. 
 Sharp was very courteous and polite, and showed signs of wishing 
 to shake hands, a conjunction which we carefully avoided. 
 
 "A few years previous to this time, Sharp had been a candi- 
 date for office, and while the canvass was in progress, his op- 
 ponent said, in a public speech: 'Sharp, you know if we had not 
 sworn like h - - 1 for you, you would have been hung for the 
 murder of the Smiths/ 
 
 "One of the Higbees (am not certain whether Chauncey or 
 Francis) then resided fifteen or twenty miles east of Carthage. 
 Mr. Browning stated that a gentleman in conversation with him 
 asked if he ever felt any remorse of conscience for the part he 
 took in the murder of the Smiths, to which Higbee replied: 'If 
 you think I have not, look at my child/ The child referred to 
 was then a young woman, grown, and, strange to behold, the en- 
 tire left half of her face, on a line with the nose from the fore- 
 head to the chin, was one red mass, as if it were fresh blood, warm 
 and dripping. The left arm and hand were also in the same condi- 
 tion. Higbee can see in his offspring the visible mark of God's 
 judgment for his great sin." 
 
 Elder Henry G. Boyle says: 
 
 "While in California on a mission in the year 1855-56, and la- 
 boring on the Russian River, near where Healdsburg now stands, I 
 often heard of an old mobocrat by the name of Kogan, or Cougan, 
 whe lived in that vicinity, and who boasted of having helped to mur- 
 der Joseph and Hyrum Smith at Carthage. He often sent a request 
 to me to visit him and proffered to tell me all about the manner 
 of the death of our Prophet. A few months afterwards I heard 
 that Mr. Cougan was stricken with some very singular disease. 
 So peculiar was his case, that many people came to see him. He 
 grew worse and worse, and lay for three months seemingly at the 
 point of death. He suffered excruciatingly, and constantly prayed 
 to die. He also begged his friends to put an end to his suffering, 
 by taking his life, and even sought an opportunity to commit sui- 
 cide, but was prevented by those waiting upon him. Many physi- 
 cians visited him, and declared they never saw anything like his 
 case. 
 
PHYSICAL AND MENTAL SUFFERINGS OF PERSECUTORS 305 
 
 "Many of the people in the neighborhood said : "If such is the 
 end of those who kill the prophets and mob and drive the Saints, 
 then may we be delivered from such a fearful and terrible ca- 
 lamity." The Martyrs, pp. 112-114. 
 
 ANOTHER MURDERER MEETS A COMMON FATE 
 
 North Carolina, 
 Surry County. 
 
 J. Monroe Hiatt, first being duly sworn, deposes and says : 
 
 That he is 66 years of age and is and has been a citizen and 
 resident of Surry County, North Carolina all his life, that he is and 
 has been since the organization president of the Mount Airy 
 Branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 
 
 That affiant avers that about the year 1907, District President, 
 Elder John Berrett, of Murray, Utah, requested that he interview 
 the following named persons with reference to their knowledge 
 of facts connected with the participation of Corporal James Belton 
 in the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Accordingly he in- 
 terviewed these parties and the following is the substance of their 
 statements : 
 
 John Wesley Inman, late of Surry County, North Carolina, 
 stated that he was well acquainted with Corporal James Belton 
 and that many times he had heard Corporal Belton state that he 
 took part in the killing of Joseph Smith and that he shot at him, 
 taking as "good aim as he ever did at a squirrel. " 
 
 Mrs. Bettie Lineback, of Mount Airy, Surry County, N. C, 
 stated that she was a close neighbor of George Belton, son of Cor- 
 poral James Belton and with Mrs. George Belton visited frequently 
 Corporal James Belton in his home. Corporal Belton was sorely 
 afflicted for several years, his eyes eaten from his head by this 
 disease. Corporal Belton's wife stated that it was with difficulty 
 that she fed her husband, because of his affliction. 
 
 Signed : J. Monroe Hiatt. 
 
 Sworn and subscribed before me, this the 13th day of August, 
 1938. Benton Moody, 
 
 Notary Public for North Carolina. 
 (Seal). My Commission Expires Aug. 12, 1940. 
 
 Note: The above affidavit was copied from the files of the 
 Manti Temple, Manti, Utah, August 15, 1951. 
 
 Statement of Arthur S. Haymore on Belton 
 
 (Dictated to the Compiler of this book, on Dec. 7, 1951, at Mesa, Arizona.) 
 
 I was born in Payson, Utah, on Feb. 1, 1878. My parents were born at 
 Mt. Airy, Surry County, North Carolina, my father, Franklin D. Haymore 
 on Aug. 12, 1849, my mother, Lucinda Adeline Taylor born in 1852. 
 
 Father was well acquainted with the Belton family. James Belton was 
 a member of the mob that murdered the Prophet Joseph Smith, and after 
 the murder he fled into North Carolina, located there and reared a family. 
 
306 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 He was in great poverty and could hardly keep the wolf from the door. When 
 I was visiting that vicinity in 1939, I visited a neighbor of Belton who told 
 me of Belton's illness. He said he died from a cancer in his eye and when 
 his meals were brought to him, the pus from his eye would drop in his plate. 
 He died a horrible death. I asked this neighbor if Belton ever discussed 
 Mormonism or the tragedy of the Prophet's death, and he stated that Belton 
 did not wish to talk about it, that he didn't boast or brag about the martyr- 
 dom but was very sorry for what had happened. 
 
 I made a special trip to hunt this neighbor up and learn what he might 
 know about Belton. 
 
 Statement of Elder James H. Moyle 
 
 "In Mt. Airy, Surry Co., N. C, a man named Belton was point- 
 ed out to me who claims to have taken a part in the same vile, fiend- 
 ish crime, and seems to have fared a similar or worse fate, having 
 been taken with something like the palsy. He is disabled for work 
 of any importance, which renders him a perfect object of pity and 
 charity. 
 
 'These are the only men I ever saw who claim to be, or bear 
 the name of being connected with those who slew the great latter- 
 day Prophet and Patriarch, Joseph and Hyrum Smith. If these be 
 fair examples of their kind, it certainly looks as though their sins 
 were going before them to judgment." The Martyrs, p. 112. 
 
 THE FATE THAT SHOULD HAVE COME TO BOGGS 
 AND ASSASSINS OF THE PROPHETS 
 
 «*** w e are t ne supporters of the constitution of the United 
 States, and we love that constitution and respect the laws of the 
 United States but it is by the corrupt administration of those laws 
 that we are made to suffer. If the law had been vindicated in Mis- 
 souri, it would have sent Governor Boggs to the gallows, along with 
 those who murdered Joseph and Hyrum, and those other fiends 
 who accomplished our expulsion from the States. " 
 
 Life of Brigham Young, by Edw. W. Tullidge, p. 263. 
 
 EX-GOVERNOR BOGGS OF MISSOURI EMIGRATES 
 TO CALIFORNIA 
 
 Mr. Burdow, the principal man at the Fort (Laramie) was a 
 Frenchman. He cordially received President Young and his staff, 
 invited them into his sitting-room, gave them information of the 
 route, and furnished them with a flat-bottom boat on reasonable 
 terms, to assist them in ferrying the Platte. Ex-Governor Boggs, 
 who had recently passed with his company had said much against 
 the Mormons, cautioning Mr. Burdow to take care of his horses 
 and cattle. Boggs and his company were quarreling, many having 
 deserted him; so Burdow told that old anti-Mormon that, let the 
 Mormons be what they might, they could not be worse than himself 
 and his men. 
 
 "It is not a little singular that this extermination Governor 
 of Missouri should have been crossing the Plains at the same time 
 
PHYSICAL AND MENTAL SUFFERINGS OF PERSECUTORS 307 
 
 with the pioneers. They were going to carve out for their people 
 a greater destiny than they could have reached either in Missouri 
 or Illinois — he to pass away, leaving nothing but the infamy of 
 his name.*** 
 
 "Fifteen miles from Laramie, at the Springs, a company of 
 Missouri emigrants came up. The pioneers kept the Sabbath the 
 next day; the Missourians journeyed. Another company of Mis- 
 sourians appeared. *** The two Missouri companies kept up a war- 
 fare between themselves on the route. They were a suggestive ex- 
 ample to the Mormons. After they had travelled near each other 
 for a week, on the Sunday following the President made this the 
 subject of his discourse. He said of the two Missourian companies : 
 
 " They curse, swear, rip and tear, and are trying to swallow 
 up the earth ; but though they do not wish us to have a place on it, 
 the earth might as well Open and swallow them up; for they will 
 go to the land of forgetfulness, while the Saints, though they suf- 
 fer some privations here, if faithful, will ultimately inherit the 
 earth, and increase in power, dominion and glory.' " 
 
 Life of Brigham Young, by Edw. W. Tullidge, pp. 163-5. 
 
 In contrast to the deportment of the above swearing, quarreling, 
 fighting, devils incarnate, read the following history of Saints of 
 God who were hunting a new home, free from the Christian mon- 
 ocracy of Missouri and Illinois, by Orson Pratt. 
 
 "In the spring of 1847, eight of the Quorum of the Twelve, in 
 company with one hundred and thirty-five others, left Council 
 Bluffs on the Missouri River, as pioneers, to explore the great 
 interior of the continent, and find a place suitable for the location 
 of the Saints. We prepared ourselves with astronomical and other 
 scientific instruments of English construction, viz. : One circle of 
 reflection, two sextants, one quadrant, two artificial horizons, one 
 large reflecting telescope, several smaller ones, two barometers, 
 several thermometers, besides nautical almanacs, books, maps, etc. 
 We also invented a simple machine attached to a wagon wheel, by 
 which the whole distance, as well as distance from place to place, 
 were accurately measured. By the aid of these instruments, the 
 latitudes and longitudes of the most prominent places upon ©ur 
 route were obtained, as also their elevations above the sea. Mete- 
 orological and geological observations were also taken throughout 
 the whole journey. Geographical descriptions of the streams, riv- 
 ers, lakes, plains, deserts, mountains, and vales, will also be found 
 interspersed throughout the numerous journals kept by us. Botan- 
 ical and Zoological observations were not forgotten by the scientific 
 among us; and, indeed, the whole journey was rendered intensely 
 interesting to the lovers of nature. New sceneries, grand and 
 sublime beyond description, were constantly exhibiting themselves 
 to our delighted vision. Mineral springs, caves, and numerous other 
 natural curiosities, were found in abundance, which constantly 
 excited the analyzing and cause-seeking powers of our chemists 
 and natural philosophers. " 
 
308 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 DEPORTMENT OF MOBOCRATS CONTRASTED 
 WITH SAINTS OF GOD 
 
 From near the first of February to the first of March we were 
 camped on Sugar Creek amid storms, the mercury at one time 
 recording 20 degrees below zero. Yet there was a warm feeling in 
 our hearts for we felt to trust in God. Even in the midst of tribula- 
 tion, in a stormy winter's encampment, merry songs and happy 
 voices were heard at every camp, and when the weather permitted 
 all ages would join, inspired by sweet music, in the dance. At the 
 signal for prayer, every occupation was suspended, and around the 
 campfire, in wagons and tents, every knee was bowed, and a voice 
 from every circle was raised in gratitude for past and in petition 
 for continued protection. 
 
 We left Sugar Creek about the first of March, with snow, sleet, 
 rain and mud, often pitching tents on ground swimming with 
 water and deep with mud. To picture the realities of our journey to 
 Garden Grove, about two hundred miles, is beyond my capacity. 
 One day, in the open prairie, without a road, and ground full of 
 water, our mule's feet, like pegs, could find no bottom and could 
 go no farther. So in the open, treeless prairie we were compelled to 
 stay. The companies had all passed, and we were alone. In the 
 carriage was a small sheet iron stove, but not a stick of wood. The 
 evening was growing cold and snow began to fall. Here was a 
 dilemma. Without fire, and something warm to eat, all would 
 suffer through the night. Seeing no other way I emptied a large, 
 valuable chest, highly prized, split it up with the hatchet, and soon 
 had a warm supper; then in the freezing storm, we crowded into 
 our wagon and remained through the night. Next morning Brother 
 Weatherby went IV2 miles for a green elm pole, which, with a 
 little of the chest, gave us fire for our breakfast. Soon some of 
 the brethren returned to look after and help us, but the ground 
 was now frozen hard enough to bear both wagon and mules. We 
 only needed help to get our wagon wheels out of the deep, frozen 
 mud, in which they had been sunk. 
 
 Measles was now in camp, and when its fever was upon our 
 two eldest, the water came so deep into the tent that our beds were 
 soaked. A number of children died, among whom was one of 
 Brother Bostwick's, a little girl about six years of age. Oh! how 
 sorrowful to put her little form, as we did, in a grave half full of 
 water, as no drier place could be found. Yet, with all this, there 
 was hope and cheerfulness in the camp, and perhaps no company of 
 equal size ever journeyed together with less faultfinding or murmur- 
 ing. My Life's Review, by Benj. F. Johnson, pp. 110-111. 
 
 THE FATE OF GOVERNOR REYNOLDS OF MISSOURI 
 
 By Wilford Woodruff 
 
 Governor Reynolds on one occasion employed men to try and 
 kidnap Joseph and they almost accomplished their designs, but 
 Joseph and some Gentile friends, as well as his brethren, through 
 
PHYSICAL AND MENTAL SUFFERINGS OF PERSECUTORS 309 
 
 whom he was rescued, were taken to Nauvoo and released under a 
 writ of habeas corpus. But the governor continued to harass him 
 with writs, and was determined to destroy Joseph. Joseph and 
 the Twelve went before God in prayer, Joseph kneeling before the 
 Lord, offered up prayer, and asked God to deliver him from the 
 power of that man. Among other things he told the Lord that he 
 was innocent before Him and that his heart was heavy under the 
 persecutions he endured. In about forty-eight hours from that 
 time word reached Joseph that Reynolds had blown his brains out. 
 Before perpetrating the deed he left a note on his desk stating, that 
 as his services were not appreciated by the people of the state, he 
 took that course to end his days. 
 
 There is another instance that occurs to my mind. A certain 
 man took a stand against Joseph, and endeavored to bring persecu- 
 tion on him. Joseph went to his God and laid the matter before 
 Him, asking to be delivered out of the hands and power of that 
 wicked man. Joseph was a prophet, seer and revelator. He was 
 acquainted with God ; he knew the voice of the Spirit when it spoke 
 to him. After offering up his prayer, the whispering of the still 
 small voice came to him, saying: "Wait with patience." The next 
 day that man was taken sick with cholera, and died in a few hours. 
 
 J.D., 24:55. 
 
 THE REMORSE OF A TRAITOR 
 
 Abraham C. Hodge stated that he had some conversation with 
 Robert D. Foster, who told him his feelings on the subject of 
 Mormonism. He said, "Hodge, you are going to the west — I wish 
 I was going among you, but it can't be so, I am the most miserable 
 wretch that the sun shines upon. If I could recall eighteen months 
 of my life I would be willing to sacrifice everything I have upon 
 earth, my wife and chiid not excepted. I did love Joseph Smith 
 more than any man that ever lived. If I had been present I would 
 have stood between him and death." Hodge inquired, "Why did 
 you do as you have done? You were accessory to his murder." He 
 replied : "I know that, and I have not seen one moment's peace since 
 that time. I know that Mormonism is true, and the thought of meet- 
 ing (Joseph and Hyrum) at the bar of God is more awful to me 
 than anything else." D.H.C., 7:513. 
 
 FATE OF A CARTHAGE JAIL MOBOCRAT 
 
 Sheriff Backenstos arrived in great haste and somewhat ex- 
 cited, said that the mob had driven him from his house in Carthage 
 yesterday, and he went to Warsaw and stayed over night. He soon 
 ascertained that the people were so enraged at him for trying to 
 stop the house-burning that there was little probability of getting 
 away alive, but finally prevailed on an influential mobocrat to 
 escort him out of Warsaw this morning, who came with him about 
 three and a half miles and on leaving cautioned him that if he saw 
 two men together to avoid them for there were deep plans laid to 
 kill him. Soon after he was pursued by a party of the mob on 
 
310 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 horseback, three of whom took the lead, one of the three had a 
 swifter horse and gained a hundred yards in advance of his party 
 in a short time when his horse stumbled and threw his rider. Back- 
 enstos maintained his speed, driving as fast as his horse could go. 
 
 The mob took the nearest road to cross his track and on his 
 arrival at the old railroad crossing, the mob were within about 200 
 yards, they being on horseback and he in a buggy, they had gained 
 on him considerably. 
 
 Orrin P. Rockwell and John Redding were refreshing them- 
 selves near the crossing as they had been out to bring in some of 
 the burnt-out families who were sick, and on looking up saw 
 Backenstos coming down the hill at full speed, and asked what was 
 the matter. Backenstos replied the mob were after and determined 
 to kill him and commanded them in the name of the people of the 
 state to protect him. Rockwell replied, fear not, we have 50 rounds 
 (two fifteen-shooter rifles besides revolvers) . 
 
 Sheriff Backenstos then turned to the mob and commanded 
 them to stop, and as they continued to advance raising their guns, 
 he ordered Rockwell to fire; he did so aiming at the clasp of the 
 belt on one of the mob, which proved to be Frank Worrell, who 
 fell from his horse and the rest turned back and soon brought up 
 a wagon and put his body into it. D.H.C., 6:446. 
 
 ACQUITTAL OF SHERIFF BACKENSTOS FOR THE 
 KILLING OF FRANK A. WORRELL 
 
 News has arrived that Sheriff Backenstos, who went to Peoria 
 in charge of Henry W. Miller, coroner of Hancock county, and was 
 tried before Judge Purple on the charge of the 'murder' of Frank A. 
 Worrell, was acquitted. The moral atmosphere around the judge 
 was so different, than when at Carthage, that in all his charges 
 and rulings, he appeared like another judge, and as though he had 
 never been afflicted with mobocratic mania. 
 
 The jury said if there had been no witnesses only on the part 
 of the state, it would not have required more than two minutes to 
 have made up their verdict. D.H.C. 6:541 
 
 THE SUFFERING OF ONE OF THE ASSASSINS 
 
 By Matilda C. Giauque Steed 
 
 After the April Conference in Nauvoo, 1846, Thomas Steed 
 (late of Farmington, Utah) then about twenty years of age, left 
 the city with his uncle John Steed. His last dime was paid to the 
 ferry-boat that landed him to the west bank of the Mississippi 
 River, at Keokuk, Lee County, Iowa. There he found work at un- 
 loading boats and received fifty cents the first night, the biggest 
 money he had seen in the United States. He continued this work 
 until he had saved $100.00. He found a home with his cousin 
 Henry Steed, who had married as his second wife Miss Rebecca 
 Reed at Nauvoo. Both were members of the Church, as well as 
 his mother Ann Steed, and the family of James and Caroline Steed, 
 
PHYSICAL AND MENTAL SUFFERINGS OF PERSECUTORS 311 
 
 all living at Keokuk. The three counsins had bought jointly a 
 property of eighty acres of woodland and a quarry and worked 
 together at building basements, furnishing their own lime and 
 stone. They now lived on their land in two dwellings. 
 
 One cold October morning, in 1846, Thomas went after the 
 two oxen browsing in the Mississippi bottoms and was surprised 
 to find a man whose clothes were white with frost, walking slowly 
 among the trees. "Man, did you spend the night outside? I would 
 have given you a place to sleep in my cabin." "I cannot stay any- 
 where/' was the answer. "Why cannot you?" "I have a farm on 
 the other side of the river, at Warsaw, as good as any farm, but 
 I can't stay in it." "Tell me, why?" "I will tell you stranger: 
 I was in that Smith scrape. Now I can rest nowhere. They pre- 
 vailed on me to go with them. Would to God I had been a thousand 
 miles away." 
 
 Slowly, in the cold, alone and hungry, through the woods of 
 the Mississippi bottoms, this remorseful murderer continued his 
 march. That "Smith scrape," the tragedy of Carthage, was about 
 28 months past. "I pitied him," said my husband. 
 
 HOW SOME OF THE MISSOURI MOBOCRATS 
 MET THEIR FATE 
 
 By Andrew Jenson and Edward Stevenson 
 
 On the morning of Monday, 10th, (September, 1888) we took 
 a 15th Street cable car to the outskirts of the city (Independence, 
 Missouri) from where we walked in a southeasterly direction to 
 the Big Blue. The reader will remember that it was on this 
 stream the Colesville branch and other Saints located in 1831, 
 and that on the 2nd of August of the year mentioned Joseph 
 Smith the Prophet, and eleven other men, in honor of the twelve 
 tribes of Israel, carried and placed in position the first log for a 
 house as a commencement for the building of Zion in this dis- 
 pensation. The Big Blue is quite a large but sluggish stream 
 which rises in Johnson county, Kansas, enters Jackson county, 
 Missouri, from the west and then changes its course northward 
 winding through the fields and farms about half way between 
 Kansas City and Independence centers. In going up the hill travel- 
 ing east, after having crossed the bridge over the Big Blue on the 
 Westport and Independence road (a few hundred feet north of 
 where the ferry over the Big Blue, mentioned in Church history, 
 once was), we turned aside to an old farm house, where we hap- 
 pened on an old Missouri mobocrat, who boasted of having been 
 an enemy to the Mormons for over fifty years. Says he, "I was but 
 a boy when the Mormons were expelled from Jackson county, but, 
 by G-d, I was old enough to shoulder a gun and help drive them 
 out." 
 
 We asked him what the Mormons had done to the old settlers 
 which merited so brutal a treatment, and especially wanted him 
 to tell us his own personal experience with them. "0," says he, "they 
 did not molest me, for I was so young, but they did others." He 
 
312 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 then related how one of the Saints claimed to have received a reve- 
 lation authorizing him to steal another man's cow, and that the 
 Missourian thus imposed upon retaliated by killing the Mormon, 
 and this was the commencement of the hostilities between the 
 Saints and the Missourians in Jackson county. Of course our knowl- 
 edge of the true history of the affair prevented us from accepting 
 the statement as true. We did not, however, consider it wise to 
 enter into any argument with him, but proceeded to ask him other 
 questions. 
 
 He then informed us that old Col. Pitcher, who took an active 
 part against the Saints in 1833, died about a year ago as a pauper. 
 Not only did he die poor, but during his last days he was shunned 
 and deserted by all. Even his own children neglected to care for 
 him. It went so far that some of the neighbors proposed to take 
 up a subscription in order to raise sufficient means to hire a negro 
 from Kansas City to wait on him until he died; but before the 
 darkey came he breathed his last in the midst of filth and misery. 
 He was once a wealthy man, but during the late civil war his prop- 
 erty was burned by the enemy and he was reduced to poverty. Thus 
 he seemed to have received his just due for the cruel part he took in 
 mobbing the Saints and burning their houses in 1833. 
 
 It may be proper to state here that nearly every house on both 
 sides of the Big Blue, the very section of country where about 200 
 houses belonging to the Saints were burned in the beginning of 
 1834 — was destroyed during the guerrilla and bushwacker's cam- 
 paign of terror in the time of the late civil war. It was a war be- 
 tween neighbors and neighborhoods, and the whole section of coun- 
 try was laid waste, so Mr. Mason informed us. His own house was 
 burned with the rest. 
 
 In answer to our inquiry he also told us that Moses Wilson, 
 the old mobocrat general, notoriously known in the Missouri perse- 
 cutions, died many years ago in Texas as a drunkard, gambler and 
 genuine vagabond, despised by all who knew him. 
 
 "What became of Samuel C. Owens who had so narrow an 
 escape from drowning in the Missouri River while fighting the 
 Mormons in 1834," we asked. "Sam Owens," replied Mr. Mason, 
 "why, he was the only man killed in the battle with the Mexicans 
 near the city of Chihuahua in 1846. He had just received bad news 
 from home, informing him that his son-in-law had committed the 
 crime of murder, and Mr. Owens felt so bad about it, that he im- 
 mediately filled himself with brandy, plunged heedlessly into a 
 hand-to-hand conflict with the Mexicans, during which he was 
 killed, according to his own wish ; for he said before starting, that 
 he wanted to go to hell at once, knowing, as he did, that he would 
 have to go there some day anyway." Such was the fate of this old 
 mobocrat, who persecuted the Saints so unmercifully during the 
 Jackson and Clay county troubles. 
 
 Mr. Mason, our informant, lives on a farm which once be- 
 longed to the Saints. He is seventy-one years of age, and although 
 he was bitter against the Saints, he seemed pleased with being 
 able to point out to us the various bends on the Big Blue, where the 
 humble log cabins of the Saints once stood. At several points there 
 
PHYSICAL AND MENTAL SUFFERINGS OF PERSECUTORS 313 
 
 are still remnants to be found of the chimneys and foundations, 
 but not a single house is known to be in existence. The residence 
 of Brother Joshua Lewis, in which the Church held its fifth Gen- 
 eral Conference, August 4, 1831, crumbled to pieces years ago. 
 That was one of the few buildings not burned by the mob at the 
 time of the exodus, but it was partly torn down. Mr. Mason also 
 told us where the skirmish took place between the Saints and the 
 mob, November 4, 1833, when Andrew Barber and two of the mob 
 were killed. 
 
 In alluding to himself the old man, whom we considered a fair 
 sample of many of those who drove the Saints out of Jackson 
 county in 1833, informed us that he had no education, "I can't read 
 a word," said he, "I only went to school three weeks in my life, 
 during which time I got nine lickings and quit." 
 
 After we left, Mr. Mason remarked to a neighbor: 'They 
 (meaning your correspondents) asked me about these men (allud- 
 ing to the mobbers), and as I did not want to lie to them I told 
 them the truth. These strangers, even if they were d-d Mormons, 
 possessed one redeeming quality — they were Democrats." On our 
 merits as Democrats he gave us all the buttermilk we could drink 
 and wished us success. * * * 
 
 Last evening (Sept. 10, 1888), we were taken in a conveyance, 
 by our friend, Elder George P. Frisbey of the Hedrickite church, to 
 fill our appointment in their meeting house on the Temple lot. Our 
 journey was over rolling land, with fields and forests intermingled, 
 forming a picture worthy of Zion's borders, on which we truly 
 were. Farms containing hundreds of acres of beautiful land, the 
 homes of the Saints more than half a century ago, were pointed 
 out to us ; also the residence of the late Col. Pitcher, standing on a 
 hill about four miles southwest of Independence, on the Westport 
 and Independence Road, where the colonel resided for fifty years 
 on a beautiful plantation which subsequently passed away from 
 him. We also learned the fate of another notorious and leading 
 mobocrat, Mr. A. E. Hickman, known as Captain Hickman, once 
 a government surveyor, who took an active part in driving the 
 Saints from their homes in 1833. His possessions were pointed out, 
 and his wealth boasted of as that of a possessor of broad fields. 
 "But," said our informant, "he died in that little cabin on yonder 
 hill in 1882, in the midst of grief and poverty." 
 
 THE JAIL WHERE JOSEPH THE PROPHET 
 REBUKED THE GUARDS 
 
 This morning (September 13, 1888) we visited a number of 
 old settlers trying to gather information in regard to circumstances 
 transpiring fifty years ago. We visited the site of the old jail where 
 Parley P. Pratt, Morris Phelps and others were imprisoned from 
 November, 1838, to May, 1839. An old resident told us that he 
 remembered many years afterwards seeing the name of P. P. Pratt 
 on the ceiling of the jail, which was finally torn down and the site 
 is now occupied by a large wagon repairing and blacksmith shop 
 owned by Messrs. Powell & Sons. On the identical spot where the 
 
314 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 jail stood is a well from which we drew and drank water in memory 
 of the past. The jail site is a little more than half a block east of 
 the northeast corner of the court-house square, on the south side 
 of the street. We made several inquiries about the old log house, 
 where Joseph the Prophet and fellow-prisoners were guarded dur- 
 ing Judge Austin A. King's trial in November, 1838, and where 
 Joseph rebuked the guard; but we were unable to find any who 
 could give us the necessary information. One old settler, Mr. B. H. 
 Quesenberry, who acted as county clerk of Ray County in 1838, 
 told us that there were a number of old log houses on the north 
 side of the court-house square at that time, and it was no doubt 
 into one of these that the Prophet and his brethren were usherd 
 on that memorable occasion. 
 
 We have also learned that General John B. Clark, the notorious 
 mobocrat, died as a drunkard in Fayette, Howard county, about 
 the year 1880, forsaken by his political friends at least. The no- 
 torious Austin A. King also died years ago. He was taken sick 
 very suddenly at St. Louis and died almost immediately. His re- 
 mains were brought to Ray county for burial. **** 
 
 (September 16, 1888). The region around Shoal creek, where 
 Haun's Mill stood, is much heavier timbered than it was fifty 
 years ago, and a fine grove of locust trees now covers the site of 
 old "Mormontown." A resident of Kingston, who yesterday pointed 
 out to us a number of farms once owned by the Saints, said, that 
 in going through Caldwell county, he could always distinguish the 
 old Mormon homesteads from all others. We asked him to describe 
 to us the difference between Mormon farms and others. "Well," said 
 he, "nearly every one of the Mormons planted locust trees around 
 their buildings which was something the Missourians never thought 
 of doing, and these have now grown and spread, until there are 
 locusts groves on nearly every farm where the Mormons resided." 
 
 Nearly all who participated in the massacre are now dead, or 
 have moved away, so that their whereabouts, if alive, are not 
 known. Some of the murderers have died in disgrace and shame, 
 haunted by their consciences until their last hours. Others have 
 boasted of their dastardly deeds, until they have been smitten 
 with sickness and misery, in the midst of which they would curse 
 God and die. 
 
 The notorious Col. Wm. 0. Jennings, who commanded the mob 
 at the massacre, was assassinated in Chilicothe, Livingston county, 
 Mo., in the evening of Jan. 30, 1862, by an unknown person, who 
 shot him on the street with a revolver or musket as the colonel 
 was going home after dark. He died the next day in great agony. 
 The shooting occurred in Calhoun street, a little northwest of the 
 present county jail in Chilicothe. Nehemiah Comstock, another 
 leader of the mob who committed the murders, expired years ago 
 in Livingston county, as a good-for-nothing drunkard. His mother 
 was also a drunkard and died a pauper and in the midst of misery 
 in a Kentucky poor house. 
 
 Thomas S. Brockman, one of the principal mob leaders in 1846, 
 came to a miserable end in Kansas, whither he removed from 
 Mount Sterling, Adams county, Illinois, after trying in vain to be 
 
PHYSICAL AND MENTAL SUFFERINGS OF PERSECUTORS 315 
 
 elected to office in Hancock county, He was killed during a quarrel, 
 in which he was the attacking party, in 1872. Francis Higbee died 
 in New York, his brother in Pittsfield, Pike county, Illinois. Robert 
 D. Foster went to California and has not since been heard of by 
 our informants. William and Wilson Law are supposed to be alive 
 yet, as they both visited Nauvoo a few years ago, trying to sell 
 their claims on the islands in the Mississippi River, near Nauvoo. 
 All these will be remembered by the Saints as the parties who, 
 more than any others, were the means of bringing about the mar- 
 tyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum. Levi Williams, the principal leader 
 of the Carthage Jail murderers, died at his home in Green Plains, 
 about the year 1858. John McAuley, a notorious mobocrat, died a 
 most miserable death about the year 1872. While lying on his death 
 bed, suffering the most excruciating pains, he told Mr. Morrill, our 
 informant, that if he could only blot out five years of his life (re- 
 ferring to the time he fought the Mormons), he could die a happy 
 man. Mr. Morrill said that a great number of the old mobocrats 
 came to a miserable end, and he did not remember a single one of 
 them who ever amounted to anything after having persecuted the 
 Saints. On the other hand, we heard of several of those who took 
 an active part in defending the Saints who have since occupied 
 various positions of honor and trust. Prominent among them we 
 may mention Mr. Morrill himself, who has always been on the side 
 of justice and right, and took an active part legally in defending 
 a number of the brethren in times of their trouble ; he has served 
 ten years as mayor of Nauvoo and several terms in the Illinois 
 legislature. 
 
 Our letter would be too long if we should relate what we 
 learned in regard to the Jack-Mormons, the French Icarians, who 
 purchased the walls of the Temple, after the building was burned 
 by the hands of an incendiary, and others who have figured in the 
 history of Nauvoo since the Saints were forced to leave. Suffice it 
 to say that shortly after the exodus and after most of the so-called 
 Jack-Mormons got discouraged and moved to other parts, the popu- 
 lation of Nauvoo was reduced to about 300 souls, and property sold 
 for almost a song. To illustrate, we will simply state that a Mr. 
 Reimbold, father of our informant, who came to Nauvoo in 1848, 
 bought a fine two-story house — hewed logs at that — with floors 
 and everything complete, for the sum of $4. The present German 
 population, who have come to stay, have done better than any of 
 their predecessors since the Saints left, but even they cannot make 
 it a place of any importance. No, that is reserved for "others" to 
 do, and even these "others" can not do it till the Lord's time comes. 
 From letters written by Andrew Jensen and Edward Stevenson, entitled 
 "Infancy of the Church," pp. 56. 
 
 A VISIT TO NAUVOO AND TO "SERGEANT WILLIAMS" 
 
 By Samuel G. Spencer 
 
 The Mississippi river was frozen over sufficiently to afford 
 the passage of pedestrians. Two gentlemen are running opposition 
 hand sleighs, on which they carry what little express, passengers 
 
316 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 or luggage there may be for Nauvoo. I rode on Mr. ReinboltiTs 
 sleigh, himself skating and pushing the sleigh. 
 
 In about ten minutes we were across the river. We then took 
 his conveyance and rode up the rising hill where the once beautiful 
 town of Nauvoo stood. I could not help the feeling of awe that crept 
 over me, as house after house was pointed out to me where the 
 down-trodden, robbed, driven, and murdered servants of God once 
 lived, among them being the house of the great latter-day Prophet, 
 Joseph Smith. The houses that are remaining, which the Saints 
 built, are among the best average buildings of today. 
 
 I registered at the Arlington hotel, from Salt Lake City, and 
 I soon made my business known, and was introduced to an old 
 gentleman who lived here in the times of trouble, by the name of 
 Thomas E. Kelley, who received me very kindly and spared no 
 pains in giving me all the information he could command. We 
 visited all the houses of note now standing, and I carefully made 
 note of the history of each, as given by him. He condemned with 
 the most severe emphasis the way the Mormons had been treated. 
 He said he was only a boy then, but was eye witness to "Jack-Mor- 
 mons stealing from parties and hiding it upon the places of Mor- 
 mon leaders, and then going to the parties whom they had stolen 
 from and telling them they'd bet the Mormon leaders had them." 
 
 I next called at the Nauvoo Rustler printing office, and gained 
 what information I could of the present feeling toward the Mor- 
 mons. The people here universally acknowledge the mis(£\e of 
 those who drove the Mormons, and agree that it was one of the 
 most wicked things that ever happened. With an expressive sigh 
 they tell of the time when Nauvoo had about 22,000 inhabitants, 
 while Chicago at that time had 12,000 inhabitants. Nauvoo then, 
 they are careful to remark, had no saloons; now with about 1,200 
 inhabitants it has several saloons. 
 
 Leaving these people with a kind, interesting feeling towards 
 the Mormons, I departed for Carthage, having to recross the river 
 and take train to Keokuk, la., and from there to Carthage. I regis- 
 tered at the Grove hotel, made my business known, and was soon 
 introduced and kindly received by the people. I called at the place 
 where the Prophet and Patriarch were killed, and found that I had 
 learned more about the building in a moment's view than I had 
 ever found out by reading. The place is now used for a dwelling, 
 and the kind old lady is very hospitable in showing strangers 
 through the house and giving liberally of her beautiful selection 
 of flowers. I also secured a piece of stone from the building. 
 
 I next called on Sergeant Williams. I found him still bitter in 
 his epithets toward the man whom he "saw killed." He said : "We 
 all wanted him killed; we held a meeting the night before and de- 
 cided to kill him. We loaded our cartridges blank, and agreed upon 
 the plan carried out." He then continued to say that "Joe Smith 
 was a bad man ; he taught the people to steal. One of his teachings 
 I remember now was: The earth is the Lord's and the fulness 
 thereof, therefore take whatsoever seemeth you good.' Such doc- 
 trine as that would make bad people." So Williams went on. He then 
 asked me where I was from. I told him from Salt Lake City. He 
 
PHYSICAL AND MENTAL SUFFERINGS OF PERSECUTORS 317 
 
 would not tell me any more, and was seized with such a violent 
 shivering and shaking, that his daughter politely asked me if I 
 would not defer further conversation. 
 
 Sergeant Williams, as he calls himself, lives in about the poor- 
 est house in Carthage. The forest trees, in their native wildness, 
 remain with the greatest possible dullness, and everything, both 
 within and without, bears the frown of a just God. 
 
 I found people in both of these towns who would look at the 
 Views of Salt Lake City, which I had with me, and with moisture 
 in their eyes express : "Surely the Lord is with these people or they 
 could not endure and accomplish what they do." 
 
 Millennial Star, 57:123-124. 
 
 A MOBOCRAT BURIED IN THE OCEAN 
 
 On Tuesday, May 24, 1864, we sailed second cabin on the bark 
 Onward, Hempstead, captain. Brother Cluff and I occupied one 
 room with a Missourian named McCarty, said to be suffering with 
 consumption. He was a large, raw-boned man, of a quarrelsome 
 disposition. 
 
 One day Captain Hempstead invited us three to have seats on 
 the upper deck with the first-cabin passengers. The reason for this 
 courtesy was soon apparent. Among the cabin passengers were 
 several ministers ; and they wanted a little diversion at the expense 
 of the Mormon Elders. 
 
 A warm discussion ensued. It was asserted that the Mormons 
 were driven from Missouri and Illinois on account of their thieving 
 and lawless acts. In my defense I challenged the proof of a single 
 dishonest deed, and testified that Joseph and Hyrum were inno- 
 cent, and that they were murdered in cold blood. Mr. McCarty be- 
 came angry, and boasted that he helped kill Joseph and Hyrum 
 Smith. I told him then that by his own confession he was a mur- 
 derer, and that the curse of God was upon him. He would have 
 struck me, but the captain interfered, and made him behave. 
 
 About midnight of the 30th of May, I was awakened by Mc- 
 Carty. He was sitting on a stool, in front of his bunk; the full 
 moon shining through the window, giving him a white, ghastly 
 appearance. He told me to get up and get him a drink. I replied 
 that the guard passed the door every five minutes and would wait 
 upon him. He seized a butcher knife, sprang to his feet, and swore 
 he would cut the heart out of me. I was lying in the middle bunk 
 and had but little room in which to move, and nothing with which 
 to defend myself ; but I felt I would rather die than do his bidding. 
 I therefore silently asked God to deliver me from his power. 
 
 He took one step forward, threw up both hands, and fell back- 
 wards. I sprang from the bunk, and raised his head, but the man 
 was dead. Brother Cluff called the guard, who soon brought the 
 captain and the doctor. The latter said he died of heart failure. 
 
 In the morning they sewed him up in a canvas, a cannon ball 
 at his feet. I stood by the taffrail, and saw the body slide off the 
 plank; and as I watched it sink into the depths of the ocean, I 
 rejoiced that I had borne a faithful testimony of God's martyred 
 
318 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 prophets, and was truly grateful that I had been delivered from 
 the hands of a wicked man. Memoirs of John R. Young, pp. 129-130. 
 
 ANOTHER MURDERER GOES TO HIS REWARD 
 
 A telegram from Carthage, Illinois, brings the news that on 
 the night of Monday, April 9, (1894), Thomas Coke Sharp, editor 
 and proprietor of the Carthage Gazette, died at his home at that place, 
 from paralysis, from which he had suffered the past three years. 
 The Deseret News gives the following additional information of the 
 life of this man: 
 
 The deceased was the son of a noted Methodist minister, Rev. 
 Solomon Sharp, of Philadelphia, and was in the 76th year of his 
 age at the time of his demise. He was a native of New York, hav- 
 ing been born at Mt. Holly, September 25, 1818. He came west and 
 settled in Quincy, Illinois, and engaged in the practice of law. 
 Shortly afterwards, in the summer of 1840, he moved to Warsaw, 
 Hancock County. He became associated in business with James 
 Gamble, and together they purchased from Daniel N. White the 
 Western World, of which Sharp became editor. A year later the 
 name of the paper was changed to the Warsaw Signal, and for a 
 number of years it was the only paper published in Hancock County, 
 outside of Nauvoo. In later years Mr. Sharp became the editor of 
 the Carthage Gazette. 
 
 The chief interest of the people of Utah in Thomas C. Sharp 
 arises from the fact that they and others have had to regard him 
 as one of the murderers of the Prophet Joseph and the Patriarch 
 Hyrum Smith, at Carthage jail, June 27, 1844. Perhaps the last 
 Utah man to visit and converse with him was Sheriff Gilbert Bel- 
 nap, of Ogden. He stated at the time that Sharp was an invalid, 
 and his mind impaired. He was non-communicative on the subject 
 of the assassination, particularly the part he played in it, but 
 Sheriff Belnap believes that at the time of his visit Sharp would 
 have told all he remembered if his wife would have allowed it, but 
 this she would not do. When Sharp came into Hancock County there 
 was some anti-"Mormon" agitation and he entered into it with 
 ardor. He was ambitious for political preferment and was wholly 
 unscrupulous in measures to gain his ends. He published in his 
 paper the most infamous falsehoods against the Latter-day Saints. 
 All through those troublous times the columns of the Signal were 
 replete with vicious articles inciting and urging violence toward 
 the "Mormon" people. Thomas C. Sharp had murder in his heart 
 then and later availed himself of the opportunity to imbrue his 
 hands in the blood of innocence. He was denounced by the sheriff 
 of the county as "a villain of the worst dye." In connection with 
 his associates he was instrumental in inflaming public prejudice 
 to the extent that meetings were held, the first of them at Warsaw, 
 in which resolutions were passed declaring that in the opinion of 
 those participating the time had arrived when the "Mormons," as 
 a body, should be driven from the surrounding settlements into 
 Nauvoo ; that the Prophet and his miscreant adherents should then 
 be demanded at their hands, and if not surrendered a war of ex- 
 
PHYSICAL AND MENTAL SUFFERINGS OF PERSECUTORS 319 
 
 termination should be waged to their entire destruction. Sharp was 
 an ardent advocate of the murderous policy. 
 
 This situation was known at the time, as may be seen by the 
 following from the diary of the Prophet Joseph, though the people 
 did not realize the full import of the ominous proceedings. The 
 Prophet says, under date of June 18, 1844: 
 
 "About 2 p.m., the Legion was drawn up in the street close 
 by the mansion. I stood in full uniform on the top of the frame of a 
 building. Judge Phelps read the Warsaw Signal extra of the 17th, 
 wherein the 'old citizens' were called upon to assist the mob in 
 exterminating the leaders of the Saints and driving away the 
 people." 
 
 Thomas C. Sharp was one of the attorneys engaged as prose- 
 cuting counsel when the Prophet Joseph and his brother Hyrum 
 were placed under arrest. Knowing that they were innocent of any 
 crime, and that if the case proceeded to trial acquittal must follow, 
 he joined with others in carrying out the mobocratic design. He 
 was a leader in the murderous conspiracy, and conducted the ne- 
 gotiations by which it was arranged that the mob should get pos- 
 session of the jail unopposed. When the assault took place he was 
 one of the participants. The readers of the News will remember 
 that a few weeks ago there was present in this city Col. M. B. Dar- 
 nell, of Iowa, who was an eye-witness to the shooting at Carthage. 
 A relative of his, a young man who was with the mob, names Sharp 
 as one of the persons who engaged in the actual shooting. He was 
 indicted with others, but all were acquitted by a jury selected, as 
 was well understood by the people then, and as testified to by Col. 
 Darnell from personal knowledge, from among the mobocrats them- 
 selves. 
 
 No language can make the crime in which Thomas Coke Sharp 
 was a leading participator appear more heinous than it is. He has 
 gone to his final account, where he will receive from a just Judge 
 that reward which his works merit. The people of Utah are satis- 
 fied to let the matter rest there. The Neivs refers on this occasion 
 to the awful tragedy of June 27, 1844, because it feels it to be a 
 solemn duty to make the record in connection with the passing 
 from mortality of one of the men chiefly responsible for the assassi- 
 nation of the Prophet and Patriarch. Millennial Star, 56:349-350, 
 
 THOSE RESONSIBLE FOR THE MURDER OF THE 
 PROPHET JOSEPH SMITH 
 
 By Orson Pratt 
 
 The word concerning the driving of the people from Illinois, 
 westward to the Rocky Mountains, in the article of the treaty got 
 up by the mobocrats, was that "we must not stop short of the 
 Rocky Mountains, but that we must go beyond them." Were any 
 lives lost in those terrible persecutions, or was it merely property 
 taken away from the Saints, without paying them a cent, in the 
 shape of thousands of acres of land which they had paid the Gov- 
 ernment for, and comfortable houses ? If it had been only our houses 
 
320 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 and lands it would have been bad enough; but lives were taken — 
 innocent men, women and children were shot down. I might go on 
 and relate some of the circumstances, but I dislike to dwell on the 
 subject; it is apt to kindle up old nature in one's heart, therefore 
 I will leave that topic. Suffice it to say that the blood of hundreds 
 and I might almost say thousands, will be required at the hands 
 of this nation unless the people repent. 
 
 Where is our prophet who translated this book (the Book of 
 Mormon), that noble youth whom God raised up when only be- 
 tween fourteen and fifteen years of age, Where is that noble boy 
 to whom God sent His angel, and to whom He gave the Urim and 
 Thummim, and to whom He entrusted the original golden plates 
 from which this book was translated. He fell a martyr to his re- 
 ligion under this free Government of the United States. Where is 
 the Patriarch of our Church, the brother of our Prophet? He too, 
 was shot down at the same time. By whom? By people who were 
 painted black, for the occasion, and who boasted of their bloody 
 deeds in Hancock county, Illinois. Some of them are still alive in 
 that county, and to this day boast of their bloody deeds in perse- 
 cuting the Latter-day Saints. 
 
 Many scores of our people were wasted away, and their blood 
 soaks the soil of this great government, crying aloud to the 
 heavens for vengeance on those who shed the blood of the martyrs, 
 and who persecuted God's people and sent them forth, as they sup- 
 posed, to perish in the heart of the Great American Desert. Not 
 only will they who committed these deeds be brought to judgment, 
 but those also who stood back behind the screen and said: "How 
 glad I am, Joe Smith is now dead, the Mormon Patriarch Hyrum 
 Smith is shot down, and we have killed many of their followers, 
 men, women and children. They have been driven five times from 
 their locations and settlements and been robbed of millions of dol- 
 lars worth of property and we are enjoying it, and it is all right. 
 Joe Smith ought to have been killed before, long ago." 
 
 This seemed to be the feeling of a great many people in the 
 American nation. They sanctioned the shedding of innocent blood, 
 if they did not actually shed it themselves, and God will require 
 it at their hands. Will He require anything at the hands of our 
 nation, in a national capacity, in regard to this matter? Was it not 
 within their power to protect us on the lands which we purchased 
 from the General Government? We did not purchase, to any extent, 
 land from the Missourians, but we took up land that belonged to 
 the General Government. We paid our money into that government 
 land office. Did they protect us in the possession of that land, 
 which they guaranteed by their deeds to us and our seed or heirs 
 for ever? They did not. Did they protect us in our citizenship? No, 
 they did not. Did we appeal to them for protection? Yes, we laid 
 our case before them. What was their reply? Martin Van Buren, 
 who sat at the head of the government at that time, said : "Gen- 
 tlemen, your cause is just, but I can do nothing for you." He saw 
 the testimony ; there was no getting away from it. 
 
 Discourse delivered April 10, 1870. ,/. D. 13:136-137. 
 
PHYSICAL AND MENTAL SUFFERINGS OF PERSECUTORS 321 
 
 A MORMON MISSIONARY LEARNS OF 
 FATE OF MOBOCRATS 
 
 Excerpts from daily diary of Alonzo Winters who was a Mor- 
 mon Elder laboring in Alexandria, Missouri, Nauvoo, 111, and adja- 
 cent territory during the year 1876-1877. 
 
 Tuesday, December 6, 1876 : Went with Aunt Lucinda to visit 
 a woman, a member of the Church by the name of Herbey. She had 
 been sick for a long time. She told me of two men, residents of 
 Alexandria, that were engaged in the martyrdom of Joseph and 
 Hyrum — John Johnston and a man by the name of Frazier John- 
 ston, the first died a prisoner at the hands of the rebels during the 
 rebellion, perished with the cold. The other, Frazier, still lives 
 here. A man by the name of Bledsaw who is believed to have beer? 
 in that scrape, and who is known to have been in the mob who 
 drove and plundered the Saints in Nauvoo, froze to death in a corn 
 shock. 
 
 Today I listened to some horrid recitals of murders that were 
 committed in Missouri during the Rebellion. In one case where a 
 leading man near here was missing; the Union soldiers arrested 
 twelve peaceable citizens and gave them 24 hours to produce the 
 man or be led out and shot. The man not being found in time, the 
 poor farmers were led out and shot with the exception of one old 
 man with a large family. A noble young man volunteered to save 
 the old man to his family ; his offer was accepted, and he was shot 
 in place of the man with the family. 
 
 Saturday, December 23, 1876 : Spent my time with the family 
 of Mr. Tripp (Alexandria, Missouri) where I was treated very 
 kindly, and heard from him the particulars of the burning of the 
 property that took place during the driving of the Saints from 
 their homes in this country (Lima). Mr. Tripp and his wife who 
 is a sister of Dominius Carter, both stated to me that the principal 
 men who engaged in the mobbing of the Saints from the state of 
 Illinois had come to a miserable end, or they were still suffering 
 with poverty, some of them have been crippled. One broke his back 
 when drunk ; some froze to death, and almost without an exception 
 they had come to a miserable end, and in many cases their suffer- 
 ings were excruciating. 
 
 FATE OF MOBOCRAT AT HAUN'S MILL MASSACRE 
 
 (Excerpt of letter from George A. Smith and W. I. Appleby to 
 Orson Hyde, written from "Camp of Israel, Muddy Fork, 930 miles 
 from Winter Quarters, Oct. 18, 1849.) 
 
 "Many have been the graves we have passed on our journey, 
 some of friends near and dear, others of strangers, that have fallen 
 by the shaft of the destroyer, while journeying over these bound- 
 less plains of sage, and mountains of rock, where the buffalo, elk, 
 antelope, bear, ravenous wolf, etc., range undisturbed, except by 
 the red man, or the journeying emigrant. 
 
 "Many has been the grave of the gold seeker we have seen, 
 whose bodies have been disinterred by the wolves; and the bones, 
 
322 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 pantaloons, hose, and other things laying strewed around, with the 
 head board laying near, informing the traveller, who had been 
 buried, where from, the day they died, age, disease, etc. But we 
 have not seen a solitary instance where one of the Saint's tombs, 
 have been disturbed by the wolves. Among the graves of those 
 whose bones lay around their graves, bleaching in the sun, their 
 flesh being consumed by the ravenous wolf, we recognized the 
 names of several noted mobocrats from the states of Missouri and 
 Illinois, who took an active and prominent part in persecuting, 
 mobbing, and driving the Saints from these states. Among others, 
 we noticed at the South Pass of the Rocky Mountains the grave 
 of one E. Dodd, of Gallatin, Missouri, who died on the 19th of July 
 last, of typhus fever. The wolves had completely disinterred him. 
 The clothes in which he had been buried lay strewed around. The 
 under jaw bone was found in his grave, with the teeth complete, 
 being the only remains discernible of him. It is believed he was the 
 same Dodd that took an active part as a prominent mobocrat in 
 the murder of the Saints at Haun's Mill, Missouri; if so, it is a 
 righteous retribution. Our God will surely inflict punishment upon 
 the heads of our oppressors in His own due time and way." 
 
 Millennial Star, 12:127. 
 
 RENOUNCE MORMONISM AND LIVE 
 
 By Brigham Young 
 
 I do not acknowledge that I ever received persecution; my 
 path has been kind from the Lord, I do not consider that I have 
 suffered enough even to mention it. But when the words of Gov- 
 ernor Lilburn W. Boggs were read by General Clark, with regard 
 to our leaving the state or renouncing our religion, I sat close by 
 him, although I was the very particular one they wanted to get 
 and were enquiring for ; but, as kind Providence would have it, they 
 could not tell whether it was Brigham Young they were looking 
 at or somebody else. No matter how this was done, they could not 
 tell. But, standing close by General Clark, I heard him say: "You 
 are the best and most orderly people in this state, and have done 
 more to improve it in three years than we have in fifteen. You 
 have showed us how to improve, how to raise fruit and wheat, how 
 to make gardens, orchards, and so on; and on these accounts we 
 want you ; but we have this to say to you, no more bishops, no more 
 high councils, and as for your Prophet," and he pointed down to 
 where Joseph lay, right in the midst of the camp, "you will never 
 see him again." Said I to myself, "May be so and may be not ; but 
 I do not believe a word of it." And continued he, "disperse and be- 
 come as we are." 
 
 Do you want I should tell you what I thought? I do not think 
 I will. Renounce my religion? "No, sir," said I, "It is my all, all I 
 have on this earth. What is the world worth as it is now? Nothing. 
 It is like a morning shadow ; it is like the dew before the sun, like 
 the grass before the scythe, or the flower before the pinching frosts 
 of autumn. No, sir, I do not renounce my religion. I am looking be- 
 yond ; my hope is beyond this vale of tears, and beyond the present 
 
PHYSICAL AND MENTAL SUFFERINGS OF PERSECUTORS 323 
 
 life. The organization and intelligence God has given me are not to 
 perish in nonentity; I have to live, and I calculate to take such a 
 course that my life hereafter will be in a higher state of existence 
 than the present." Millennial Star, Vol. 52:563 (1890). 
 
 THE FATE OF THE MURDERERS OF THE 
 PROPHET JOSEPH 
 
 By W. H. Riter 
 
 I have respectfully asked what has become of those who drove 
 the Saints from their homes; and the unvarying testimony has 
 been that those who are alive are socially and politically dead. Mr. 
 M. M. Morrill, an attorney in Nauvoo, brother of Senator Morrill, 
 of Maine, who is an old inhabitant of the place, in reply to the above 
 question said: "They are either dead, in the penitentiary, or gone 
 to hell." Palma, the fiend who set the Temple on fire, is now a con- 
 vict in the penitentiary at Fort Madison. The Rev. Thos. Brock- 
 man, commander of the mob forces who expelled the remaining 
 Saints from their homes, in September, 1846, afterwards ran for 
 the office of county clerk for this county. He made his eminent 
 services in expelling the Saints a radical point in his claims upon 
 his party for election. He was defeated overwhelmingly and left 
 the country in disgust. Before leaving, he made a valedictory ad- 
 dress to the citizens of Carthage, in which he bitterly complained 
 of the treatment he had received from the citizens of Hancock 
 county in being ungrateful to him for his mighty services rendered 
 in expelling their enemies. During his address he had the flag which 
 waved over his myrmidons laying on the desk before him. He 
 pathetically said, he wished to bequeath the flag to some citizen of 
 Hancock county who would preserve it, and asked who would take 
 the flag. No one made answer for sometime, finally a man, whose 
 name I have forgotten, stepped forward and received that glorious 
 flag (?) which had waved over fifteen hundred brave heads (?) 
 who had succeeded in driving a few defenceless men, women and 
 children from their homes. 
 
 Brockman and Col. Williams are both dead, died enjoying the 
 respect of no one as far as I can learn. Col. McCanly, one of the 
 leaders of the mob still lives, but in a state of abject poverty and 
 his faculties are close bordering on idiocy. Tom Sharp still lives; 
 it is said his nose lengthens as he grows in years. The present citi- 
 zens of Hancock county, as far as I can learn, deprecate the ex- 
 pulsion of the Saints, and none of those engaged in the unholy act 
 ever enjoyed any social respect afterwards — nay more, they were 
 despised by their neighbors and former friends." 
 
 Correspondence from Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois, The Deseret News, 
 Jan. 5, 1870, Vol. 18:48. 
 
 THE END OF THE TRAITOR COLONEL GEORGE M. HINKLE 
 
 By Edward W. Stevenson 
 
 On the 30th of October, 1838, Neil Gillam was at the head of 
 a mob who were disguised as wild Indians. They were painted, 
 
324 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 and Gillam himself was arrayed as an Indian chief. The mob had 
 been burning houses and driving the Mormons' stock away from 
 their owners, takmg prisoners. Colonel Hinkle ordered out a com- 
 pany of militia, about 150 in number, to endeavor to learn the 
 intentions of Gillam and others, who were camping on Log Creek, 
 near Far West. I was one of those under Col. Hinkle and we all 
 were on horseback. We soon learned that their intentions were 
 hostile. A flag of truce in the hand of Charles C. Rich was shot 
 at during the day, and our company was cut off from Far West by 
 a line of battle being formed between us and our homes. Col. 
 Hinkle returned from the front of our line with his military coat 
 off, saying that there were hardly enough of us to allow a mouthful 
 apiece for the numerous hosts before us. He seemed excited and 
 fearfully frightened, and for this and other reasons I have always 
 believed this accounted for his conduct on that occasion. We re- 
 treated fifteen miles to Far West, arriving about the time the 
 troops were nearing the city. They were marching with red flags, 
 which were interspersed and mixed up with Gillam's command of 
 painted faces. Our company coming into Far West on the gallop, 
 created quite a sensation, as we were mistaken for the enemy 
 coming in from two different points. We, however, soon proved 
 ourselves to be friends, and were just in time to extend the line 
 already formed in defense of the city. Our adversaries were in 
 the ratio of about ten to one of us, which looked rather serious for 
 a little handful of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- 
 day Saints. 
 
 The Prophet came along after our arrival and said : 
 
 "Fear them not. God is for us, and there are more for us than 
 there are against us (meaning the hosts of heaven were on our 
 side.) God and liberty is the watchword," said Joseph. "Fear 
 them not, for their hearts are cold as cucumbers." 
 
 Night was fast approaching and flags of truce were passing 
 between the two lines, by which we learned that this formidable 
 army was sent out by Governor Boggs with orders to exterminate 
 us. It was finally concluded not to murder us that night, so the 
 army withdrew until the next morning, when they intended to make 
 a final end of Mormonism. They camped for the night on Goose 
 Creek, one mile away from the city. Thus ended one of the most 
 eventful days of our lives. It fell to my lot to stand guard that 
 night, and the worst confusion and disorder ever witnessed by 
 human beings existed in the enemy's camp. This, with unearthly 
 yelling and howling, produced a real pandemonium very much 
 resembling my idea of hell. A sort of breastwork was constructed 
 during the night made principally of wagons, house logs, etc. A 
 dark and dreary night was that. On the following day, October 
 31st, we were preparing to meet death, if necessary, rather than 
 surrender our religion to a mob. We trusted in the Lord, however, 
 and a better way was prepared. Col. Hinkle had been communi- 
 cating with the enemy during the day, and in the afternoon, Joseph 
 Smith and others passed over the breast-works near where I and 
 others were on duty. Col. Hinkle lead the party to meet the enemy, 
 
PHYSICAL AND MENTAL SUFFERINGS OF PERSECUTORS 325 
 
 where he betrayed them into their hands. This treachery on his 
 part turned out for the best, for God suffers offences to come, as in 
 the case of Judas, "but woe to him by whom they come." 
 
 On the following day, November 1st, 1838, w r e were marched 
 into a hollow square just outside of the city, where we delivered 
 up about 630 guns, grounded our arms, and advanced to the center 
 of the square, where the small arms and swords were left in a pile. 
 The late Bishop McRae gave six cuts with his sword and a pointer 
 in the ground and left his sword sticking there. We were left 
 without the means of self-defense and at the mercy of a conscience- 
 less set of ignorant, prejudiced people, many of whom, like St. 
 Paul before his conversion, acted as if they were doing God's 
 service in destroying property and abusing the Mormons. 
 
 General Wilson, who was one of the mobbers in Jackson county, 
 was in company w T ith Joseph Smith soon after he was condemned 
 to be shot. Joseph asked General Wilson what he had done that 
 he should be treated with such indignity, stating that he had always 
 been a supporter of the Constitution and of good government. 
 Wilson's reply was: "I know it, and that is the reason I want to 
 kill you, or have you killed." 
 
 In the public square of Far West, General Clark said in part : 
 
 "Yon must not think of staying here another season or of 
 putting in crops; for, if you do, the citizens will be upon you. If I 
 am called here again in case of non-compliance of a treaty made, do 
 not think that I shall do as I have done now. You need not expect 
 any mercy, but extermination. For I am determined the Governor's 
 orders shall be executed." 
 
 "As for your leaders, do not think, do not imagine for a 
 moment, do not let it enter into your minds, that they shall be 
 delivered and returned to you again for their fate is fixed, their die 
 is cast, their doom is sealed. I am sorry, very sorry, gentlemen, to 
 see so many intelligent men found in this situation. Oh, if I could 
 invoke the Great Spirit, the unknown God, to rest upon and deliver 
 you from that awful chain of superstition, and liberate you from 
 those fetters of fanaticism ivith ivhich you are bound, that you no 
 longer do homage to a man! My advice is that you become as other 
 citizens, lest by a recurrence of these events you bring upon your- 
 selves irretrievable ruin." 
 
 It vividly recurs to my mind that at the closing of General 
 Clark's hard talk, Col. G. M. Hinkle also spoke to the large body of 
 Saints, saying : 
 
 "I would advise you all to do as I have done, for I have got 
 my hand out of the lion's mouth, and I intend to keep it out here- 
 after/' 
 
 It may not be out of place to relate a statement made to me 
 by E. B. Tripp, who authorizes me to use his name, regarding 
 George M. Hinkle, whose hand he said was out of the lion's mouth. 
 Elder E. B. Tripp says : 
 
 "In 1852, 1 lived in Wapelo, Louisa county, Iowa. G. M. Hinkle, 
 a stranger to me, came into my drug store. He introduced himself 
 to me, saying: 'This is Mr. Tripp, I understand. I hear that you 
 
326 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 are going to Utah, and I would like to have a private talk with you. 
 I am the man who betrayed Joseph Smith and others into the hands 
 of the mob in Missouri. I am a miserable man, and scarce know 
 what to do ivith myself. I tuould be willing to lay down my life if 
 this would atone for the sin I committed. What can I do, Mr. Tripp, 
 for I knoiv Mormonism is true ?" 
 
 This is the substance of the conversation as reported by Broth- 
 er Tripp, who gave him some good advice before he parted with him. 
 Thomas B. Marsh, then one of the Twelve Apostles, apostatized 
 during this dark hour of Missouri persecution. I saw him and heard 
 him speak then, and also when he came to Utah and was rebaptized. 
 I heard him confess with deep regret, saying: 
 
 "Look at my trembling limbs and see the fate of an apostate, 
 for I am a wreck, but Mormonism is true, and I advise you not to 
 do as I have done, in my apostasy." 
 
 Gen. John C. Bennett, who once flourished in Nauvoo, aposta- 
 tized because of his iniquities. He died in Polk City, Iowa, a miser- 
 able wreck, debased and degraded. When I was in Iowa on a mis- 
 sion I learned of a party who once had a rope around his neck and 
 over a limb. At that time he barely escaped being hung up like a 
 dog. Reminiscences of the Prophet Joseph, pp. 36-39. 
 
 THE FATE OF JOHN C. BENNETT 
 
 John C. Bennett made an affidavit before Daniel H. Wells, 
 alderman of the City of Nauvoo, "that he never was taught any- 
 thing in the least contrary to the strictest principles of the gospel, 
 or of virtue, or of the laws of God or man, under any circumstances, 
 or upon any occasion, either directly or indirectly, in word or in 
 deed, by Joseph Smith." When he made this oath he professed to 
 be anxious to do right. The affidavit was made on the 17th of 
 May, 1842. On the 25th of that month he was notified that the 
 First Presidency, Twelve and Bishops had withdrawn fellowship 
 from him, and were about to publish him in the paper. He begged 
 them not to publish him in the paper for his mother's sake ; he did 
 this so humbly that the notice was withdrawn from the paper. 
 The next day he attended a meeting at the Masonic Lodge Room, 
 and acknowledged his wicked and licentious conduct; he cried like 
 a child, and said he was worthy of the severest of chastisements, 
 but he begged that he might be spared. His sorrow appeared so 
 deep for the moment, or he pretended to have it, that Joseph plead 
 for mercy, and he was forgiven still. 
 
 After this he did not remain long in Nauvoo. As soon as he 
 got off he commenced circulating every kind of slander and false- 
 hood against Joseph and the Saints. According to his statements 
 they were unfit to live. While he was professing to be a member 
 of the Church, and to have great faith in the work, he wrote 
 several fierce articles about the persecutions which the Saints had 
 endured in Missouri. He did not publish his own name to these; 
 but signed them "Joab, General in Israel." After he left Nauvoo, 
 in writing against Joseph and the Church, he quoted from these 
 articles. He did this to show the public what a treasonable, blood- 
 
PHYSICAL AND MENTAL SUFFERINGS OF PERSECUTORS 327 
 
 thirsty people the "Mormons" were; but he took care not to tell 
 them that he was the "Joab" who had written the articles. 
 
 Bennett published a book filled with the blackest lies about 
 Joseph and the Saints. This created a little excitement, which, 
 however, did not last long. He was despised by every one who knew 
 him, and those who did not know him, but only heard his stories 
 or read his book, looked upon him as a traitor and bad man. For 
 some years before his death he had fits, which were very violent; 
 he also partly lost the use of his limbs and of his tongue. It was 
 difficult for him to make himself understood. He dragged out a 
 miserable existence, without a person scarcely to take the least 
 interest in his fate, and died a few months ago without a person to 
 mourn his departure. And yet there was a time, probably, when 
 he, like many others before and since, thought that if he should 
 apostatize, the work of God would totter and fall! This is the 
 blindness of apostates — the trick of the devil to lead them to do 
 his bidding. He laughs at their folly, and when they can be no 
 longer used by him, he throws them aside and leaves them to their 
 miserable fate. Juvenile Instructor, Vol. 3:111, July 15, 1868. 
 
 THE MARTYRDOM PLANNED BY LEADING MEN 
 OF THE NATION 
 
 By Brigham Young 
 
 When Joseph Smith rose in the majesty of his calling before 
 God, he saw what we are now hearing of through dispatches re- 
 ceived from week to week. * * * Joseph rose up and said: "I will 
 save them, if they will let me." He stepped forth like a man 
 and profferred his services to save the nation that is now break- 
 ing; and he would have saved it, if they had permitted him. 
 What did they bestow upon him in return? They made a martyr 
 of him. **** They crowned him a martyr of Jesus. They performed 
 an act that secures to him crowns of glory, immortality and eternal 
 lives. They succeeded in shedding his blood and that of the Patri- 
 arch Hyrum. They shed the blood of the innocent, and the nation 
 said amen to it. Were they aware of it at the seat of government? 
 I have no doubt they as well knew the plans for destroying the 
 Prophet as did those in Carthage or in Warsaw, Illinois. It was 
 planned by some of the leading men of the nation. I have said 
 here once before, to the astonishment of many of our own country- 
 men, that there was a delegate from each State in the nation when 
 Joseph was killed. These delegates held their council. What were 
 they afraid of? You and me? No. They were afraid of those 
 eternal principles God has revealed from the heavens ; they trembled 
 and quaked at the sound of them. Joseph would have saved the 
 nation from ruin. **** 
 
 I have heard Joseph say : "You will see the sorrows and misery 
 of the world and the misery that will be upon this land, until you 
 will turn away and pray that your eyes may not be obliged to 
 look upon it." Said he, "There are men in this council that will 
 
328 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 live to see the affliction that will come upon this nation, until your 
 hearts sink within you." He did not live here to see it, though 
 he will see it. Can you endure the sight of it, No. Boast not over 
 the misery of your fellow-men. God will fulfil his purposes." 
 
 Journal of Discourses, 8:320-321, 325. 
 
 I will tell you another prophecy of Joseph's, of which both 
 Jews and Gentiles are my witnesses. Joseph said that the bones 
 of hundreds of the Missouri and Illinois mobocrats, who drove the 
 Saints from those States, should bleach on the plains, and their 
 flesh should be meat for wolves. Are you witnesses to that, in 
 coming over the plains; Yes, hundreds and hundreds of those 
 characters that started to go to the gold mines, their flesh was 
 meat for the wolves, and their bones are there bleaching today, 
 so far as they have not been buried or entirely rotted away. 
 
 Jouryial of Discourses, 8:357. 
 
 RETRIBUTION TO THOSE WHO PERSECUTED 
 
 It was prophesied by Joseph the Prophet that the bones of 
 those who drove the Church from Missouri and killed men, women 
 and children should bleach upon the plains. This has been fulfilled. 
 Did they suffer more than the people of God whom they drove from 
 their homes — from their firesides in winter — from their fathers and 
 mothers and friends, and the land of their nativity? Yes, there is 
 scarcely a comparison. Their sufferings in crossing the plains to 
 the gold regions of California have been greater by far than ever 
 the sufferings of the Saints have been in crossing the plains to 
 Utah. These are facts that are present with us. The bones of those 
 who drove the Saints from Independence, from Jackson County, 
 then from Clay and Daviess Counties, and last of all from Caldwell 
 County, from whence they fled into Illinois, have been scattered 
 over the plains — gnawed and broken by wild beasts and are there 
 bleaching to this day, while the Saints who have died on the plains 
 have without an exception had a decent burial where they have 
 died — have had friends to console with and comfort them in their 
 dying moments and to mourn for a season with their bereaved 
 relatives. These comforts and blessings were denied the murderers 
 of Joseph and Hyrum Smith and of scores of the Saints, and they 
 were left in the bitterness of death without a friend and without 
 mercy. They suffered immensely more than did the Saints whom 
 they persecuted; they received that which they sought to bring 
 upon the Saints and that too in good measure pressed down and 
 running over. Brigham Young, J. D. 9:101-2. 
 
 THE DEVASTATION OF JACKSON COUNTY, MISSOURI 
 
 By Junius F. Wells 
 
 I had the pleasure, in the early part of this year (1902) to meet 
 Hon. Leonidas M. Lawson, of New York City, formerly a resident 
 of Clay County, Missouri. Mr. Lawson is a brother-in-law of General 
 
PHYSICAL AND MENTAL SUFFERINGS OF PERSECUTORS 329 
 
 Doniphan, and one night, in the beautiful University Club, a night I 
 shall long remember, he recounted to me many parts of the story 
 here related. He said that his father had told him in his youth of 
 the inhumanity of the Missourians' treatment of the Mormon people, 
 and then he told me of his own visit to General Doniphan, in 1863; 
 of their riding over Jackson County together, and of the incidents 
 related in the following letter, which I requested him to write. Mr. 
 Lawson is a man standing high in his profession, a lawyer of great 
 ability, an orator known in Missouri, New York, and London, a man 
 of world-wide travel and information, whose observations upon affairs 
 and men are of recognized weight and value in the cosmopolitan circle 
 of his acquaintance. It was a pleasure to hear him, without prejudice 
 for or against the Mormons, narrate eloquently the circumstances 
 which he has so briefly, but pointedly, set down in this communication: 
 
 New York City, February 7, 1902. 
 "Mr. Junius F. Wells, New York. 
 
 My dear Sir: Responding to your request for a statement con- 
 cerning the devastation of Jackson County, Mo., permit me to say: 
 
 I am preparing a biographical sketch of General Alexander W. 
 Doniphan. It will be remembered that General Doniphan com- 
 manded the famous expedition, which during the Mexican War 
 marched from Fort Leavenworth to Santa Fe, and thence to Chi- 
 huahua, fighting enroute the Battle of Bracite and the Battle of 
 Sacramento; in this latter engagement his little army of 1000 
 Missourians was opposed by a Mexican army U000 strong. In the 
 biography occurs the following interesting passage: 
 
 'In the year 1863, I visited General A. W. Doniphan at his 
 home in Jackson County, Mo. This was soon after the devastation 
 of Jackson County, Mo., under what is known as "Order No. 11" 
 This devastation was complete. Farms were everywhere destroyed, 
 and the farm houses were burned. During this visit General Doni- 
 phan related the following historical facts o,nd personal incidents: 
 
 'About the year 1831-2, the Mormons settled in Jackson County, 
 Mo., under the leadership of Joseph Smith. The people of Jackson 
 County became dissatisfied with their presence, and forced them to 
 leave; and they crossed the Missouri River and settled in the coun- 
 ties of DeKalb, Caldwell and Ray. They founded the town of Far 
 West, and began to prepare the foundation of a Temple. It was 
 here that the trouble arose which culminated in the expulsion of the 
 Mormons from the State of Missouri, according to the command of 
 Governor Lilburn W. Boggs. This was known in Missouri annals 
 as the Mormon War. There were many among those who obeyed 
 the order of the Governor, in the State Militia, who believed that 
 the movement against the Mormons was unjust and cruel, and that 
 the excitement was kept up by those who coveted the homes, the 
 barns and the fields of the Mormon people. The latter, during their 
 residence in the State of Missouri, paid, in entry fees for the land 
 they claimed, to the U. S. Government Land Office, more than 
 $300,000.00 which for that period represented a tremendous inter- 
 est. During their sojourn in Missouri the Mormons did not practice 
 or teach polygamy, so that question did not enter into it. 
 
 'Following the early excitement, Joseph Smith ivas indicted 
 for treason against the State of Missouri, and General Doniphan 
 
330 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 was one of the counsel employed to defend him, he having shown 
 a friendly interest in Smith, tvhom he considered very badly treated. 
 Joseph Smith tuas placed in prison in Liberty, Missouri to await 
 his trial. This place was the residence of General Doniphan. His 
 partner in the practice of laiv was James H. Baldwin. 
 
 'On one occasion General Doniphan caused the sheriff of the 
 county to bring Joseph Smith from the prison to his law office, for 
 the purpose of consultation about his defense. During Smith's 
 presence in the office, a resident of Jackson County, Missouri, came 
 in for the purpose of paying a fee which was due by him to the 
 firm of Doniphan and Baldivin, and offered in payment a tract of 
 land in Jackson County. 
 
 'Doniphan told him that his partner, Mr. Baldwin, was absent 
 at the moment, but as soon as he had an opportunity he would con- 
 sult him and decide about the matter. When the Jackson County 
 man retired, Joseph Smith, tuho had overheard the conversation, 
 addressed General Doniphan about as folloivs: 
 
 "Doniphan, I advise you not to take that Jackson County land 
 in payment of the debt. God's ivrath hangs over Jackson County. 
 God's people have been ruthlessly driven from it, and you will live 
 to see the day ivhen it will be visited by fire and sivord. The Lord 
 of Hosts ivill sweep it with the besom of destruction. The fields and 
 farms and houses will be destroyed, and only the chimneys will be 
 left to mark the desolation." 
 
 "General Doniphan said to me that the devastation of Jackson 
 County forcibly reminded him of this remarkable prediction of the 
 
 Mormon prophet. Y ours sincerely, 
 
 L. M. Lawson." 
 
 There is a prediction of the Prophet Joseph, not before put into 
 print, and history has recorded its complete fulfillment. 
 
 As a remarkable evidence of its literal and exact fulfillment, I 
 add the following self-explanatory and interesting letter from Judge 
 A. Saxey, written in reply to a request for information upon the 
 subject, and call attention to his use of the almost exact of Joseph's 
 prophecy, though so far as I know, he has not even heard that such 
 a prediction was ever made: 
 
 Spanish Fork, Utah, August 25, 1902. 
 Mr. Junius F. Wells, Salt Lake City, Utah. 
 
 Dear Sir: Yours of August 22nd, received. I hardly know how 
 to write in a letter concerning the subject you inquire about. How- 
 ever, I will give you a little of ivhat I know, and if you can use it, 
 all right. 
 
 I enlisted in a Kansas regiment in 1861. During the winter of 
 1861 and '62, my regiment was stationed at Kansas City, and we 
 were around in Jackson County a great deal during the winter. 
 Quantrill was operating in that locality, and ive were trying to 
 catch him. At one time, we surrounded Independence, and arrested 
 everyone in the town. I can testify that Jackson County contained 
 more contemptible, mean, devilish rebels than any I came across 
 in an experience of four years. I had quite a talk ivith a man 1 
 
PHYSICAL AND MENTAL SUFFERINGS OF PERSECUTORS 331 
 
 arrested who lived on the Blue River, and who ivas there when the 
 Saints were driven out, but that, I suppose, ivould be somewhat 
 foreign to your inquiry. 
 
 In the spring of 1862, my regiment went south, and it was dur- 
 ing that time that "Order No. 11" was issued, but I was back there 
 again in 1864, during the Price raid, and saw the condition of the 
 country. The duty of executing the order was committed to Col. 
 W. R. Penick's regiment, and there is no doubt but that he carried 
 it into effect, from the howl the Copperhead papers made at the 
 time. I went down the Blue River. We found houses, barns, out- 
 buildings, nearly all burned down, and nothing left standing but 
 the chimneys, which had, according to the fashion of the time, been 
 built on the outside of the buildings. I remember very well that the 
 county looked a veritable desolation. 
 
 I do not know that uyhat I have written will do you any good, 
 if it will, you are welcome. Of course, I could tell a great deal more 
 than I can write in a letter. Respectfully, 
 
 A. Saxey. 
 
 The practice of the guerilla bands of making stealthy, assassin- 
 like, sudden attacks upon the Union troops, from ambush, as they 
 were marching from point to point, and then disappearing, became 
 so intolerable that extreme measures were resolved upon to stop 
 it. These contemplated the destruction of the base of supplies of 
 the marauding parties. It was found that the principal location 
 was Jackson County, where forage for their horses and food for 
 the men, and change of animals and equipment were being secretly 
 furnished, as the opportunity and need of the renegade parties 
 required. Women and children even were frequently discovered 
 contributing to the sustenance and help of these parties. The whole 
 county came to be regarded as a nest-bed of traitors and spies, a 
 refuge for assassins and robbers, whose murderous and uncivilized 
 warfare could not be combatted by the ordinary rules and practices 
 of civilized war, and that must be put down by means that should 
 be effective, however cruel and relentless. This determination led 
 to the issuance of the celebrated "General Order No. 11." which has 
 been more widely published and quoted, because of the manner and 
 thoroughness of its execution, than almost any other order of the 
 Civil War. 
 
 "General Order, No. 11 
 
 Headquarters District of the Border, 
 Kansas City, Mo., August 25, 1863. 
 
 "1. All persons living in Jackson, Cass and Bates counties, Mo., and in 
 that part of Vernon, included in this district, except those living within one 
 mile of the limits of Independence, Hickman's Mills, Pleasant Hill and Harri- 
 sonville, and except those in that part of Kaw Township, Jackson County, 
 north of Brush Creek and west of the Big Blue, are hereby ordered to remove 
 from their present places of residence within fifteen days from the date 
 hereof. 
 
 "Those who, within that time, establish their loyalty to the satisfaction 
 of the commanding officer of the military station nearest their present places 
 of residence, will receive from him certificates stating the fact of their loyalty 
 and the names of the witnesses by whom it can be shown. All who receive 
 
332 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 such certificates will be permitted to remove to any military station in this 
 district, or to any part of the State of Kansas except the counties on the 
 eastern border of the State. All others shall remove out of this district. 
 Officers commanding companies and detachments serving in the counties 
 named will see that this paragraph is promptly obeyed. 
 
 "2. All grain and hay, in the field or under shelter, in the district from 
 which the inhabitants are required to remove, within reach of military sta- 
 tions, after the 9th day of September next, will be taken to such stations, 
 and turned over to the proper officers there; and report of the amounts so 
 turned over made to District Headquarters, specifying the names of all loyal 
 owners and the amount of such produce taken from them. All grain and hay 
 found in such district after the 9th day of September next, not convenient to 
 such stations, will be destroyed. 
 
 "3. The provisions of General Orders No. 10 from these Headquarters 
 will be at once vigorously executed by officers commanding in the parts of the 
 districts, and at the stations, not subject to the operation of Paragraph 1 of 
 this Order, and especially in the towns of Independence, Westport and 
 Kansas City. 
 
 "4. Paragraph 3, General Orders No. 10, is revoked as to all who have 
 borne arms against the Government in this district since the 20th day of 
 August, 1863. 
 
 "By order of Brigadier-General Ewing. 
 
 H. Hannahs, Adjutant." 
 
 Prophecies of Joseph Smith and Their Fulfillment, 
 By Nephi L. Morris, pp. 185-190. 
 
 THE JUDGMENTS OF GOD SHALL OVERTAKE THEM 
 
 On the 1st of May, 1850, we said goodbye to the old Keokuk. 
 Our outfit consisted of four wagons, heavily loaded, nine yoke of 
 oxen, five cows, two mules and one horse. Richard Cook drove 
 the wagon of Caroline; with his family our contingent was aug- 
 mented to fifteen. It was a late and cold spring; the ground was 
 very wet. We had much trouble to pull our wagons through the 
 muddy roads. The wheels sometimes would sink down to the hub ; 
 and occasionally we had to double the teams to get through the 
 swamps toward Council Bluffs, Iowa. At length we reached the 
 Missouri River and crossed it the 1st of June, 1850, landing at the 
 south side of the Platte. There our company was organized with 
 Milo Andrus for Captain. Our train of emigrants consisted of 56 
 wagons and five captains of ten. President Orson Hyde organized 
 us and his closing words were: "// you will strictly observe your 
 prayers morning and evening, keep the Sabbath Day holy, faith- 
 fully hold the name of God sacred, and be kind to each other and 
 to your animals, you shall all go safely to the V 'alley r s." We arrived 
 all well and happy to our destination the 28th of August, 1850, 
 having had one death and one birth. The gold fever prompted many 
 to go to California that summer, by way of the north side of the 
 Platte, so that the feed for animals was all used up. For that reason 
 President Hyde advised us to go along the south side. Some of the 
 gold seekers did take the same route. The cholera broke out among 
 them ; they were all around us, before and behind us, although we 
 tried to keep away from them, and many of them died, but our 
 company escaped. 
 
 One afternoon our camp stopped earlier than usual. I stole 
 away about two miles to the Bluffs, to see where those people came 
 
PHYSICAL AND MENTAL SUFFERINGS OF PERSECUTORS 333 
 
 from who were swept out to such an alarming extent. Such a 
 horrible scene as I beheld I hope never to see again. The graves 
 of the cholera victims were there, with head-boards bearing their 
 names, who were from Missouri; but the hyenas had dug open 
 the graves, dragged the cadavers out and devoured the flesh from 
 their bones ; the ravens had plucked out their eyes, and their bloody 
 long skeletons lay stretched out on the ground. That awful sight 
 shocked my feelings beyond expression. I did not take note of their 
 names, unfortunately, but I remembered many were of the mobbers 
 of Missouri, who had so cruelly treated our people. Then I recalled 
 the prophecy of Joseph Smith: "You shall not die a natural death: 
 the judgments of the Almighty shall overtake you: the wolves shall 
 eat the flesh from your bones and the ravens shall pluck out your 
 eyes" And I saw it literally fulfilled ; but our captain had forbidden 
 us to go to their camps and I dared not mention what I had seen 
 to anyone. I am perhaps the only witness who saw that prophecy 
 fulfilled. This was between Fort Kearney and the crossing of the 
 South Platte. Life of Thomas Steed, pp. 14-15. 
 
 THE PROPHET'S FATHER HAD POWER TO BLESS 
 AND TO CURSE 
 
 By Perrigrine Sessions 
 
 (Note: While visiting at the home of Sister Robert Scott, in 
 Rock Springs, Wyoming, on October 13, 1935, Sister Scott dictated 
 the following incident from the diary of her father Perrigrine 
 Sessions.) 
 
 In the year 1838, when on my way out of Missouri, near 
 Palmyra, in company with Father Joseph Smith, the father of the 
 Prophet Joseph, and Carlos Smith, his brother, we encountered a 
 heavy snow storm. We halted at a farm house to buy corn and to 
 stay all night. Father Smith asked the owner if we could camp 
 there and buy feed for our animals. He asked : "Are you Mormons?" 
 Father Smith answered: "Yes, we are." He became very angry 
 and said: "Damn you, you can't stay on my property," and with 
 many insulting words and threats we were driven out into the 
 street. Here we stopped and gathered together in the falling snow. 
 Slowly Father Smith removed his hat and with uplifted hands he 
 prayed : "In the name of the Lord whom we serve, let that man be 
 cursed in his basket and in his store, and let this man's name be 
 cut off from under heaven." We all said, Amen. 
 
 When I came to travel this same road two years later, this 
 incident was brought fresh to my mind. For behold there was 
 nothing to mark the spot but the ruins of his home burned to ashes ; 
 his orchard broken down; his farm a picture of desolation; his 
 wife and three children were burned to death in their home and he 
 at this time was in close confinement for the insane. I saw the 
 power of the priesthood manifested, for at the next farm we were 
 received kindly and given all the comfort and assistance we needed 
 and Father Smith left his blessing on this household as we departed. 
 Here my eyes beheld the fulfillment of his words to the letter as 
 
334 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 there I looked upon a picture of prosperity and happiness. All this 
 passed and the two neighbors were ignorant of the curse or the 
 blessing placed upon them as we passed on. 
 
 THE FATE OF MOBOCRATS 
 
 The sad news reached us today of Brother Silas Beckwith 
 being murdered and buried. This Beckwith was one of the Mormon 
 Battalion in the Mexican war, and was, at the time of his death, a 
 worthy member and teacher in the San Juan branch. 
 
 I visited his widow and orphans, and spent some hours in the 
 house of mourning. On my second visit I gained and wrote down 
 the following statements pertaining to the history of Joseph Smith : 
 
 Mrs. Eunice Corinthia Beckwith, formerly Mrs. Lawn (whose 
 father's name was Joshua Twitchell), was the widow of John 
 Lawn, captain of a company of Illinois militia, of McDonough 
 County, who guarded Joseph and Hyrum Smith in Carthage jail 
 until the morning of the day they were martyred, when himself 
 and company were disbanded by order of Governor Ford, and 
 started for home, leaving the prisoners in the hands of the Carthage 
 Greys. 
 
 On taking leave of the prisoners he gave his hand, received 
 Joseph's blessing, and heard him say most solemnly: "Farewell, 
 Captain Lawn ; when you and your men leave me my life guard is 
 gone." Previous to this, however, Joseph had read to him the 
 fifty-fifth Psalm, and told him to remember that chapter and read 
 it to his friends when he arrived home. One of the Carthage Greys 
 also read in reply the sixty-first Psalm. 
 
 Captain Lawn and his troops had marched about twelve miles 
 towards home when the news reached them of the martyrdom ! At 
 this he exclaimed : "Oh that I had known of this massacre, so soon 
 to transpire ! I would have remained, and, when the first ball was 
 fired at the Smiths, I would have fired the second through the body 
 of the villain who fired it or died in the attempt." 
 
 A man named Townsend, living in Iowa, near Fort Madison, 
 was one of the mob who assaulted and forced in the jail door. The 
 pistol discharged by Joseph Smith wounded him in the arm, near 
 the shoulder, and it continued to rot without healing until it was 
 taken off, and even then it would not heal. 
 
 About six months after he was shot Mrs. Lawn saw his arm 
 and dressed it. He was then gradually rotting and dying with the 
 wound. He staid overnight with Mrs. Lawn's father, and groaned 
 through the night without sleeping. He asked the old gentleman 
 what he thought of Joseph Smith being a prophet? He replied that 
 he did not know. "Well," said Townsend, "I KNOW HE WAS A 
 PROPHET OF GOD ! And, oh, that I had staid at home and minded 
 my own business, and then I would not have lost my life and been 
 tormented with a guilty conscience, and with this dreadful wound, 
 which NONE CAN HEAL!" He died two or three months after- 
 wards, having literally rotted alive! 
 
 James Head, of McComb, was also one of the murderers at the 
 Carthage jail; he was heard by Captain Lawn and others to boast 
 
PHYSICAL AND MENTAL SUFFERINGS OF PERSECUTORS 335 
 
 of it afterwards, and Captain Lawn drew a pistol and chased him, 
 but he ran away. He was always gloomy and troubled from the 
 time he helped to murder the Smiths, and frequently declared that 
 he saw the two martyrs always before him ! He had no peace. 
 
 A colonel of the Missouri mob, who helped to drive, plunder and 
 murder the Mormons, died in the hospital at Sacramento, 1849. 
 Beckwith had the care of him ; he was eaten with worms — a large 
 black-headed kind of maggot — which passed through him by myr- 
 iads, seemingly a half pint at a time ! Before he died these maggots 
 were crawling out of his mouth and nose ! He literally rotted alive ! 
 Even the flesh on his legs burst open and fell from the bones ! They 
 gathered up the rotten mass in a blanket and buried him, without 
 awaiting a coffin ! 
 
 A Mr. , one of the Missouri mob, died in the same hospital 
 
 about the same time, and under the care of Mr. Beckwith. His face 
 and jaw on one side literally rotted, and half of his face actually 
 fell off! One eye rotted out, and half of his nose, mouth and jaw 
 fell from the bones! The doctor scraped the bones, and unlocked 
 and took out his jaw from the joint round to the center of the chin. 
 The rot and maggots continued to eat till they ate through the 
 large or jugular vein of his neck, and he bled to death ! He, as well 
 as Townsend, stank so previous to their death, that they had to be 
 placed in rooms by themselves, and it was almost impossible to 
 endure their presence, and the flies could not be kept from blowing 
 them while alive ! 
 
 These particulars, and many others, were related to me by 
 Brother Beckwith previous to his death, and afterwards by his 
 widow and father-in-law, and others who were conversant with 
 them, and are believed to be correct. 
 
 Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt, pp. 474-77, Millennial Star, 38:170-1. 
 
 THE SLAYERS OF JOSEPH STANDING 
 
 Elder George A. Smith, who recently returned home from a 
 mission to the Southern States, was lately furnished by a Tennessee 
 correspondent with some interesting information concerning the 
 members of the Georgia mob that murdered Elder Joseph Standing. 
 Elder Smith kindly permitted the Deseret News to make public use 
 of it, and it is as follows : 
 
 Ben Clark resides in Georgia, and is poverty-stricken. 
 
 John Forssett died a short time after the murder was com- 
 mitted. 
 
 James Blair resides in Tennessee and is poverty-stricken. 
 
 Newton Nation lives in Arkansas; he has had all kinds of 
 family troubles, and about the same trouble applies to his three 
 brothers, Tom, William and Joe, except the latter, who has paid a 
 small portion of his penalty by losing his eyesight. Joe Nation is 
 supposed to be the one who did the fatal shooting. 
 
 Mack McClure and Jeff Hunter, after absolutely failing to 
 make a living at their once happy homes, were compelled to ride 
 the 'blind baggage' to the West. 
 
336 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 Andrew Bradley and Jud and Dave Smith are living in Georgia. 
 They are all homeless and make a living by doing odd jobs. 
 
 This completes the twelve murderers. Millennial Star, 41:582. 
 
 FATE OF THE CANE CREEK, TENNESSEE, MURDERERS 
 
 By Robert Price 
 
 There are in the Southern States at the present time two 
 Elders named Gibbs and Berry. These young men were babes in 
 their mothers' arms when their fathers, together with two other 
 members of the Church, were murdered in cold blood, at the head 
 of Cane Creek, Tennessee. On Sunday morning, August 10, 1884, 
 Elders J. H. Gibbs, William S. Berry and Henry Thompson met at 
 the home of a family of Saints by the name of Condor, where they 
 had purposed holding a meeting with Saints and friends in that 
 district. They knew nothing of the murderous plot that had been 
 concocted by a band of ruffians, who had chosen as their leader 
 a professed minister of the Gospel of Christ, a pretended disciple 
 of the meek and lowly Nazarene. In an unexpected moment a 
 number of masked men rushed in upon the Saints, shot and killed 
 Elders Gibbs and Berry, two members of the Condor family, and 
 seriously wounded Sister Condor. Elder Thompson escaped into 
 the woods, his life being saved by a lady who passed between him 
 and his would-be assassin. 
 
 Later Elder Brigham H. Roberts, disguised as a tramp, went 
 to Tennessee, and succeeded in recovering the bodies of the mur- 
 dered missionaries, and they were brought home to Utah and laid 
 to rest among the people of God. I take the following extract from 
 an editorial published in the Millennial Star (Vol. 46) at that time: 
 "It is hard to conceive how a dozen or twenty beings in the human 
 form could be found, in this enlightened age, and in that nation 
 which boasts so much of its freedom and tolerance, so utterly 
 depraved, so devoid of all the finer feelings which are supposed to 
 distinguish the civilized man from the savage, as to deliberately 
 combine for the perpetration of such a crime, even though their 
 victims were ever so unworthy. But how much more difficult to 
 reconcile the thought of their doing so when we know that there 
 was not the slightest provocation for the deed; when we under- 
 stand that the only fault they could possibly find with their victims 
 was that they believed and taught a religion that was distasteful 
 to them; when we learn that at least one of the assassins was a 
 preacher of religion ; when we realize that they chose the Sabbath 
 day for the awful tragedy, and swooped down and mercilessly 
 butchered their victims when they had met for divine worship; 
 Incredibly as these statements appear, they are true — only too 
 true." 
 
 I am reminded of this said event by Elder Soren Peterson, 
 while attending the recent London conference. Elder Peterson 
 stated that he followed the remains of one of the martyrs to their 
 last resting place, about twenty-two years ago. Eleven years later, 
 in August, 1895, he, in company with Elder E. S. Larson of Coal- 
 
PHYSICAL AND MENTAL SUFFERINGS OF PERSECUTORS 337 
 
 ville, Utah, visited Cane Creek and preached in the log cabin in 
 which the meeting was held prior to the tragedy. The Condor 
 home had been burned down two months before, but they were told 
 that the blood of the martyrs was there till that time, and that all 
 efforts to erase it had been in vain. David Hinson, the leader of 
 the mob, was killed by James R. Hutson, a half brother of the 
 Condor boys, at the time of the tragedy. The murderers were per- 
 mitted to go unpunished so far as the law of the land was con- 
 cerned, but the vengeance of heaven overtook them. Elder Peterson 
 was told by reliable people that Hinson's brother, one of the mob, 
 got into trouble with a man who cut his flesh almost into shreds. 
 So acute was his suffering that he plead with his friends to put 
 him to death and thus end his pain. He said that the reason why 
 he had to suffer thus was because he had assisted in putting to 
 death two servants of the Lord. Before his death his flesh dropped 
 from his bones. All the other members of that notorious gang died 
 unnatural deaths. Four of them became raving maniacs, and died 
 in lunatic asylums. Millennial Star, 68:662-63. 
 
 THE CANE CREEK MASSACRE 
 
 By Alfred Fuller 
 
 (Dictated to the Compiler of this book on December 27, 1951, at 
 
 Mesa, Arizona 
 
 I was born in Harrisburg, Washington County, Utah, on the 
 21st of October, 1871. My parents were Willis Darwin Fuller and 
 Annie Campkin Fuller. I left home on the 27th of June, 1899, for 
 a mission to the Southern States, and was assigned to the Middle 
 Tennessee conference, in Hickman county. My companion on the 
 following occasion was Elder David C. Shupe, a young man of 
 twenty-two years of age. We visited the northern end of Hickman 
 county, trading as we went, and as we approached a certain home, 
 the man of the house saw us coming and came out of the house 
 and said : "I know who you are ; you are Mormon Elders. Get your 
 grips and come right in this house. You see that little church upon 
 that ridge?" "Yes, sir," we replied. Said he: "Two Mormon Eld- 
 ers came here by the name of John H. Gibbs and William S. Berry. 
 They asked me if I thought it was possible to get permission to 
 preach in that little white church. I told them there had never 
 been a Mormon preach in it; that it was built as a union church, 
 free to the use of all denominations except Mormons ; but you might 
 try. I gave the Elders the names of the deacons who had the say 
 of this church. They met the first deacon and asked him if he 
 thought it would be out of order if the truth was once preached in 
 that church, and he said: "No, I would like to hear the truth 
 preached once in that church." Elder Gibbs said: "Well, if you 
 will consent and come out you shall hear the gospel truths preached 
 in their fulness in that church." The man said : "As far as I am 
 concerned I give my consent but you must go and see the others." 
 They called at the homes of the others but they were away from 
 home, which, of course, gave the necessary permission. 
 
338 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 Our host who invited us in his home was a little bald-headed 
 school teacher and a member of the Christian church. He said to 
 us : "I used to hold prayer meetings for the Christian church mem- 
 bers but since those Elders came here and preached that time I 
 don't hold any prayer meetings. I told our minister that he was 
 absolutely without any authority to preach or baptize or administer 
 any ordinances of the gospel and he had no more authority than 
 the Jews, Protestants or Catholics." Our host further stated: 
 "Do you know, that little Elder Gibbs, if there is such a thing as an 
 inspired man, he was inspired. He had that Bible from Genesis to 
 Revelations on the tip of his tongue. They held six meetings in that 
 little church and each meeting the crowd increased from meeting 
 to meeting until the last meeting when they stood in the aisles. The 
 Elders stayed with me every night. They had dozens of invitations 
 to homes and I just stepped up when one would invite them to stay 
 at their home and say, 'No, sir, I have invited them to stay with me 
 during this meeting period/ He said, 'Do you know that just ten 
 days after those Elders left my home they drifted into Lewis coun- 
 ty on Cane Creek and there they were murdered/ " 
 
 In going back to our headquarters, we strayed across the line 
 into Lewis county which was out of our assigned territory, as we 
 were desirous of meeting the man where the killing took place 
 which was at the Condor home on Cane Creek. Brother Condor 
 owned 80 acres of land and Cane Creek ran right through his land, 
 where several nice pools were located that were suitable for bap- 
 tismal purposes. Brother Condor had one son eighteen years of 
 age and a step-son about nineteen or twenty years of age. The 
 post office was two miles north of the Condor home and these boys 
 went every day to the post office for the mail. It was rumored 
 there that ten days away there would be four baptized on Cane 
 Creek on the Condor farm. The postmaster would tell these boys 
 that he heard men say that very morning that there was not going 
 to be any baptisms on that date and at that place. They were not 
 going to permit it. Each day the postmaster would tell the boys 
 that ten or twelve men had said that "there will not be any baptisms. 
 They were not going to stand for it. They were going to take those 
 Elders and whip them with hickory whips until they couldn't stand 
 up, and then haul them out of Lewis county on a wagon." These 
 boys would say to the postmaster when these men made their brags, 
 "that they had better dress their wives in mourning because they 
 are not coming onto our property and take innocent men that have 
 never done any one a bit of harm and mistreat them. No, when 
 you hear them say that once more, you tell them that they had bet- 
 ter be careful because this property belongs to us, and those Elders 
 are right at home there. They are not molesting anybody." This 
 went on for seven days. Each day the postmaster would hear more 
 threats from this crowd, who would gather at the post office, and 
 every one of them were drinking. 
 
 Brother Condor told us that the leader of the mob held Baptist 
 prayer meetings. This baptismal service was set for two o'clock 
 on the specified day but at ten o'clock on that day about twelve 
 
PHYSICAL AND MENTAL SUFFERINGS OF PERSECUTORS 339 
 
 men on horseback, all masked, rode up to the home. All wore guns 
 and most of them had pistols also. They rode up to the gate which 
 was about 100 feet from the house, tied their horses outside the 
 fence, came inside the fence and the leader of the mob walked right 
 into the house, the others remained standing in the yard. Brother 
 Condor said he walked out of the house just as the leader of the 
 mob walked into the house. There was a gun hanging on a rack 
 on the wall. The leader of the mob took the gun off the rack 
 which was across the room from the door, turned to the left in 
 front of Elder Gibbs, pulled his pistol and shot Elder Gibbs twice. 
 Elder Gibbs was sitting in a chair with a hymn book in his hands 
 as they had been singing hymns that morning to Brother and Sister 
 Condor. Both Elders were wonderful singers, Elder Gibbs hav- 
 ing a fine tenor voice and Elder Berry a splendid bass voice. They 
 were often asked by their congregations to sing one or more hymns 
 after each meeting. 
 
 The leader of the mob then walked out of the house. Elder 
 Berry slammed the door as the leader of the mob went out. The 
 mob could see down the alley way between the houses the son who 
 was in the orchard 150 yards away, who came running to the house 
 at the sound of the shots that killed Elder Gibbs. Not over a 
 minute after Elder Gibbs was shot, the mob started shooting 
 through the door at Elder Berry. About six shots hit him. The 
 son ran upstairs to the window, picked up his gun, and fired one 
 shot which struck the leader of the mob who fell dead just inside 
 the gate. By this time the step-son had reached the window up- 
 stairs when six shots hit both of them. Both boys fell right by the 
 window. The mob then put their dead leader on the horse and 
 rode away, after first tying him to the saddle. A stray bullet 
 went through the door of the kitchen and hit Mrs. Condor in the 
 hip, breaking her hip bone which rendered her a cripple for six- 
 teen years. 
 
 Brother Condor told us that for two years after the massacre, 
 his red American blood boiled to think that his neighbors, twelve 
 in number, would congregate to murder innocent people. Said he : 
 "I knew every one of them by the horses they rode. The only con- 
 solation I had was to kneel down and ask the Lord for strength 
 that I might be able to overcome the feeling of taking the law into 
 my own hands and waylay these men but every time I would ask 
 the Lord to avenge my brothers. One night after two years had 
 passed, the power of God rested upon me and it came to my mind 
 that if these two boys had been in the house ready for the mob, he 
 believed the boys would have killed all twelve of the mob before 
 they could get away. If such had been the case, it would have been 
 the greatest blight on the Church that could have happened because 
 the law would have taken the two Elders, the two boys and myself 
 to jail and we would have hanged for their death. But consolation 
 came to me when I saw the members of the mob drifting toward 
 hell. They were all drinking and visiting the taverns where there 
 were prostitutes and as a result their wives divorced them because 
 they were diseased, for the state law promptly permitted divorces 
 on those grounds. About two years after the massacre two of 
 
340 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 these men were in a tavern playing cards and drinking. They 
 carried their guns all the time. A quarrel came up in this card 
 game and both raised at the same moment, pulled their guns and 
 both guns cracked at once, shooting each other through the heart. 
 All of these mobbers were in the depths of poverty and were vaga- 
 bonds dressed in rags, and rode pony horses around the country. 
 All were buried by the county in pauper graves and some of them 
 died in the insane asylum." 
 
 When we started to leave the home of Brother and Sister 
 Condor, they followed us out of the home, with tears streaming 
 down their faces, and remarked what a great spiritual feast they 
 had had during our visit. Their joy was overwhelming as they had 
 not seen an Elder for about five years. "Won't you promise to 
 come back to us," they entreated, but our fields of labor did not 
 permit us to return. 
 
 THE GENERAL CAUSE OF APOSTASY FROM 
 THE CHURCH 
 
 By George Q. Cannon 
 
 Oliver Cowdery, the man who was ordained with Joseph Smith 
 Dy angels, and whom you would imagine would of all men in the 
 Church, next to the Prophet himself, have been firm and steadfast, 
 left the Church, and the Priesthood, gifts and powers that God gave 
 to him were given to another. If this man could not stand, who 
 can expect to stand in this Church? And all who knew his history 
 know what the cause was. He indulged in impurity; he was un- 
 virtuous. In consequence of this he lost the Spirit of God and fell 
 into darkness, and was severed from the Church of Christ. And 
 he is not alone. I might mention the names of a number who are 
 distinguished in our history who met with the same fate. The 
 Lord will not tolerate impurity. No matter what a man may know, 
 or what testimony he may have, if he commits sin, unless he re- 
 pents, the Lord will not bear with him. If he does not repent, the 
 Lord will withdraw His Spirit from him, and leave him to himself. 
 
 Millennial Star, 60:164-65. 
 
 AN INTERVIEW WITH OLIVER COWDERY 
 
 My father, Jacob Gates, while on his way to England, in 1849, 
 stopped at the town of Richmond, where lived at that time Oliver 
 Cowdery. Hearing that Oliver was in poor health, and wishing 
 to renew old acquaintance, as they had been friends in earlier days, 
 father called on him at his home. Their conversation, during the 
 visit drifted to early Church history, and to their mutual experi- 
 ences during the troublous times in Missouri and Illinois. Finally 
 father put this question to him : "Oliver, I want you to tell me the 
 whole truth about your testimony concerning the Book of Mormon 
 — the testimony sent forth to the world over your signature and 
 found in the front of that book. Was your testimony based on a 
 dream, was it the imagination of your mind, was it an illusion, a 
 myth— tell me truthfully?" 
 
PHYSICAL AND MENTAL SUFFERINGS OF PERSECUTORS 341 
 
 To question him thus seemed to touch Oliver very deeply. He 
 answered not a word, but arose from his easy chair, went to the 
 book case, took down a Book of Mormon of the first edition, turned 
 to the testimony of the Three Witnesses, and read in the most 
 solemn manner the words to which he had subscribed his name, 
 nearly twenty years before. Facing my father, he said: "Jacob, 
 I want you to remember what I say to you. I am a dying man, and 
 what would it profit me to tell you a lie? I know," said he, "that 
 this Book of Mormon was translated by the gift and power of God. 
 My eyes saw, my ears heard, and my understanding was touched, 
 and I know that whereof I testified is true. It was no dream, no 
 vain imagination of the mind ; it was real." 
 
 Then father asked him about the angel under whose hands 
 he received the priesthood, to which he made answer thus : "Jacob, 
 I felt the hand of the angel on my head as plainly as I could feel 
 yours, and could hear his voice as I now hear yours." 
 
 Then father asked the question : "If all that you tell me is true, 
 why did you leave the Church?" Oliver made only this explanation ; 
 said he, "When I left the Church, I felt wicked, I felt like shedding 
 blood, but I have got all over that now." 
 
 Here follows the sworn affidavit of Jacob F. Gates, before 
 Notary Public Arthur Winters, on December 3, 1915, to the truth 
 of the above conversation between Jacob Gates and Oliver 
 
 Cowdery. - Improvement Era, Vol. 15:418-19. 
 
 FULFILMENT OF PROPHECY 
 
 "You will see the old man go down to the grave in disgrace. 
 He has cast off his political friends, and they cast him off as a thing 
 of naught, and he will become a hiss and a byword." 
 
 The prophecy we have quoted, is extracted from a sermon de- 
 livered by President Brigham Young in Great Salt Lake City, in the 
 year 1861, and relates to James Buchanan, ex-President of the 
 United States. The fulfilment of prophecy is a theme to which of 
 late we have frequently alluded; but we have never witnessed a 
 more speedy and direct fulfilment of the predictions of the servants 
 of God than in the case of the ex-President. 
 
 To convey a correct understanding to others — a proper real- 
 ization of the judgments of God — we shall quote the testimony of 
 those who have nothing in common with the Latter-day Saints, 
 contained in the New York Tribune, and we have no reason to doubt 
 the testimony offered. To enable all classes to better comprehend 
 the great revolution which has taken place in the circumstances of 
 the ex-President, it will be necessary to state, that only five short 
 years have passed since he stood at the head of one of the most 
 promising Republics the world ever saw, wielding a power inferior 
 to that of no potentate or emperor upon the face of our globe. When 
 we consider this, and contrast his present degradation with his 
 former greatness, we are inclined to pity, did we not know that it 
 is a just retribution for the sordid wretch who sold his honor for 
 foreign gold, bartering the blood of innocence for a little of this 
 world's honor, which he enjoyed only long enough to appreciate the 
 
342 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 height from which he has so suddenly fallen. "Vengeance is mine, 
 saith the Lord, and I will repay." If the Utonians had had the 
 punishing of James Buchanan, they never could have inflicted on 
 him the excruciating torture which has been his, and under which 
 he is still writhing, meted out to him, as it has been, by those very 
 individuals to whose pampered appetites and whims he had pan- 
 dered, braving the powers of heaven, and trampling under his feet 
 every just law, both human and divine, to gratify the parasites who 
 were sapping the life-blood of the Union. The American people 
 think today it is the nation that has forsaken James Buchanan ; in 
 one sense of the word this is true; but can they realize that they 
 are merely instruments in the hands of God in carrying out His 
 purposes? 
 
 Why did the nation desert him? They offer us a reason, "The 
 ex-President did not trust the people"; but he did trust them as 
 much as it is possible for a wire-pulling politician, who is today 
 buoyant with hope, and tomorrow lean and sunken almost to de- 
 spair, to trust his fellowmen. No! it is the curse of an avenging 
 God that rests down upon him, and many generations will pass 
 before that silly old man can emerge from the punishment he so 
 justly merits and is now enduring. 
 
 The following sentence uttered by him previous to the desola- 
 ting war which has partially subsided in the United States, is suf- 
 ficient to cause his name to be stricken from the scrolls of liberty, 
 and be forever denied a place among the sons of freedom — 
 "Slavery is more sinned against than sinning." God gave all men 
 their freedom, but "Man's inhumanity to man" has crushed mil- 
 lions, not only in the United States, but on the continent of Europe, 
 more especially in Catholic countries; and we can easily trace fur- 
 ther east, and say that millions are held in bondage in free and 
 enlightened England. It is, however, not our province to point out 
 the failings and short-comings of any nation in this article, but to 
 hold up to the world another proof that the kingdom of God is 
 established on the earth, and that men can foretell the dealings of 
 the Almighty with the wicked throughout the nations. 
 
 Witness the heading of this article, and the following quota- 
 tion from the New York Tribune — "The last five years must have 
 been full of bitter days to James Buchanan. To live in silence, and 
 retirement and obloquy, — his name the most detested of any name 
 in America ; to sit in his home, with the years rapidly bending him 
 to the grave, and feel that, after so much power and honor, and, 
 above all, so many opportunities, he was the most unpopular of 
 Americans, — to feel this and yet to know that he was partly the 
 victim of fate, that after all he had been merely a whirling mariner 
 in a hurricane — the weakest, most muddled, most distracted sea- 
 man, it is true, that ever went out upon the salt seas ; and that for 
 the life of him he could not tell whether the ship was on her keel 
 or on her beam-ends — that his statesmanship was scribbling and 
 praying, and that he meant to do what was best, even while doing 
 the worst, — to sit and hear nothing but imprecations from a people 
 he had served for fifty years ; to be cursed by mothers who had lost 
 
PHYSICAL AND MENTAL SUFFERINGS OF PERSECUTORS 343 
 
 their children; to have no friends even among the people of the 
 South, for whom he sacrificed all — this is a retribution more ter- 
 rible than that of Belisarius wandering in poverty and blindness, or 
 the discrowned Lear on the storm-beaten moor wielding the sceptre 
 of straw." 
 
 Here, then, we look upon James Buchanan sinking into a lone- 
 ly grave — not even a wife or child to mourn over his forsaken bier — 
 standing on the verge of eternity, with not a single ray to lighten 
 his midnight journey; longing for death, and yet starting back in 
 terror when the grim monster appears; wishing to rend the veil, 
 and yet not daring to meet the calm, searching glance of his Cre- 
 ator; dreading the doom which conscience in thunder-tones pro- 
 claims for broken laws and mis-spent time — a thing for which we 
 can have pity but which is far too contemptible to despise. 
 
 Editorial, Millennial Star, Vol. 28:57-59. 
 
 FATE OF PERSECUTORS OF MISSIONARIES 
 
 (Many dozens of such instances can be compiled and published.) 
 
 Elder Bedson Eardley, while traveling in the Norwich con- 
 ference, England, in June, 1875, held a camp meeting one Sunday 
 near one of the large cities of his district. After the close of the 
 services, seven repentant persons handed in their names and re- 
 quested baptism. An appointment was accordingly made for the 
 next evening, immediately after the close of a meeting for which 
 arrangements had already been made. 
 
 Agreeable to his promise, Brother Eardley proceeded the fol- 
 lowing evening to the place chosen for the baptism. His converts 
 were ready for him and he had just entered the stream, leading 
 a man by the hand, when a mob came upon the scene with loud 
 shouts and curses. A large, strong man, whom he subsequently 
 learned was a well-to-do blacksmith, emerged from the crowd. He 
 walked to the bank of the creek, which was about four feet above 
 the water in which Brother Eardley was standing, and, with a 
 heavy stick, dealt him a severe blow across the top of the head. So 
 much force was exerted that it appeared as though the skull would 
 certainly be crushed. But, strange to say, the Elder experienced 
 not the slightest pain or inconvenience from the blow — the Lord 
 had protected him. Notwithstanding the cruelty of the blow, he 
 felt no desire to retaliate ; for the Spirit whispered, "The Lord will 
 take care of him." 
 
 The bitterness of this man did not cease, and it was finally 
 predicted by an Elder of the Church that, as a punishment for his 
 sins, he would be afflicted so that in his agony he would crawl 
 along a wall and seek death but not find it. This prediction was 
 very soon literally fulfilled : The man contracted an incurable dis- 
 ease, and was seen for months crawling along by a wall, vainly 
 seeking death ; and he expressed his belief that his affliction was a 
 punishment for having so shamefully treated the "Mormon" Elder. 
 
 Juvenile Instructor, Vol. 19:43. 
 
344 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 GOD WILL VINDICATE HIS SAINTS 
 
 And thus, with the sword and by bloodshed the inhabitants 
 of the earth shall mourn ; and with famine, and plague, and earth- 
 quake, and the thunder of heaven, and the fierce and vivid lightning 
 also, shall the inhabitants of the earth be made to feel the wrath, 
 and indignation, and chastening hand of an Almighty God, until 
 the consumption decreed hath made a full end of all nations. 
 
 That the cry of the saints, and of the blood of the saints, shall 
 cease to come up into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, from the 
 earth, to be avenged of their enemies. d. & C. Sec. 87. 
 
 NONE WILL PROSPER WHO FIGHT AGAINST 
 MORMONISM 
 
 By George Q. Cannon 
 
 It is a remarkable fact — and I wish you all to pay attention to 
 it, if you have not already done so — that no man prospers who 
 fights against this work. You let your minds reflect upon the days 
 of the past in this Territory, and if you have read the history of 
 the people and ask yourselves, "Where are the men who were 
 distinguished at one time among their fellow-men, who have suc- 
 ceeded in life, who have left a name and a fame behind them who 
 have fought against this work?" I mean a name and a fame that 
 are not beclouded. If their sun was bright, it has gone down in 
 gloom, including Presidents of the United States, including judges, 
 senators, congressmen, and others whom we have had in our own 
 Territory. Where are they? Take it from the beginning, from 
 Brocchus Day and Brandenbury, who came to this land. I have 
 watched them closely. I have been familiar with them — men in 
 Congress and men out of Congress, men of position in the Terri- 
 tory, and men out of position in the Territory — and there is not one 
 that I know of whose example I would like to follow or whose fate 
 I would like to have. So it will be to the end. "No weapon that is 
 formed against thee shall prosper ; and every tongue that shall rise 
 against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn." This is the word 
 of the Lord uttered thousands of years ago concerning His work 
 in the last days. It has been fulfilled ; and it will be fulfilled. These 
 are blessings that God has given to us, to be delivered, to be strength- 
 ened, to be united, to have the love of one another. What is im- 
 prisonment? What are trials and difficulties and troubles? What 
 man is there who would shrink from trials or even death if he knew 
 that he had the love of his f ellowmen, if he had their affection and 
 their confidence? And this is what we have. We are banded to- 
 gether by indissoluble ties ; they cannot be severed ; they are strong- 
 er than steel. Yes, they are stronger than death. 
 
 This people are solidified by the power of God, by the outpour- 
 ing of the Holy Ghost. God has poured out this great love from 
 heaven upon us. In every land where the Elders go and baptize the 
 children of men, there is a spirit of love descends upon us who are 
 baptized. The Elders have friends who would die for them. An 
 
PHYSICAL AND MENTAL SUFFERINGS OF PERSECUTORS 345 
 
 Elder going to a strange land, when lie baptizes those people into 
 the Church and the Spirit of God rests upon them, they uphold him 
 and feel as though they would lay down their lives for him, so great 
 is their love for the man who brings them the Gospel. Who of the 
 Elders that have traveled that do not know this to be true? Who 
 of the Saints that have been baptized abroad that cannot bear 
 testimony to this throughout these mountains ? 
 
 Millennial Star, Vol. 51:197-198 (1889). 
 
 FATE OF RAIDERS OF L, D. S. HOMES 
 
 During the days of the "underground" when so many of our 
 leading men were compelled to leave home to avoid spending a 
 term in the penitentiary, our home was under almost constant 
 observation. There were four deputy marshals who were de- 
 termined to "get" my father. Their names were Steele, Whetstone, 
 Exum, and McClellan. All of these men hated our people and did 
 everything they could to hurt and destroy us. I was but a small 
 boy and was terrified to meet any one of them. 
 
 As the years passed by I had occasion to observe what seemed 
 to be retribution that was meted out to these men. Steele went 
 blind and groped his way about Ogden for years, and apparently 
 lived in poverty. He was an object of pity — a pitiable sight. Whet- 
 stone was shot and killed in a saloon brawl at 2 or 3 o'clock in the 
 morning. What happened to Exum himself I don't know, but what 
 happened to his son was perhaps as hard for him to bear as any- 
 thing that might have happened to him. His son was a handsome 
 fellow. He attended the same school I did. As I remember it, he 
 was the only son of his father, and the apple of his father's eye. 
 When he was about ten years old he contracted a disease that 
 seemed to be beyond the ability of the doctors to control. He stopped 
 growing, and turned a sickly yellow color. One leg became stiff 
 as though there were no joint in it. That is as I remember him 
 the last time I saw him. 
 
 McClellan moved away from Ogden, and I never knew what 
 became of him. It would be interesting to know. 
 
 Robert I. Burton 
 
 RESULT OF REJECTION OF THE GOSPEL REVEALED 
 FROM HEAVEN THROUGH JOSEPH SMITH 
 
 By Charles W. Penrose 
 
 On the other hand, through the rejection of this Gospel, which 
 "shall be preached to all the world as a witness" of the coming of 
 Christ, the world will increase in confusion, doabt, and horrible 
 strife. As the upright in heart, the meek of the earth, withdraw 
 from their midst, so will the Spirit of God also be withdrawn from 
 them. The darkness upon their minds in relation to eternal things 
 will become blacker, nations will engage in frightful and bloody 
 warfare, the crimes which are now becoming so frequent will be 
 of continual occurrence, the ties that bind together families and 
 
346 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 kindred will be disregarded and violated, the passions of human 
 nature will be put to the vilest uses, the very elements around will 
 seem to be affected by the national and social convulsions that will 
 agitate the world, and storms, earthquakes, and appalling disasters 
 by sea and land will cause terror and dismay among the people; 
 new diseases will silently eat their ghastly way through the ranks 
 of the wicked; the earth, soaked with gore and defiled with the 
 filthiness of her inhabitants, will begin to withhold her fruits in 
 their season; the waves of the sea will heave themselves beyond 
 their bounds, and all things will be in commotion ; and in the midst 
 of all these calamities, the master-minds among nations will be 
 taken away, and fear will take hold of the hearts of all men. 
 
 Millennial Star, Sept. 10, 1859. 
 
 PROPHETIC FATE OF STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS 
 
 On the morning of November 28, 1839, he (Joseph Smith the 
 Prophet) and Judge Higbee arrived at Washington, and on the fol- 
 lowing day they went to the White House, the residence of the 
 President of the United States. They were soon shown into an 
 upper apartment, where they met President Van Buren and were 
 introduced into his parlor. There they presented their letters of 
 introduction to him. As soon as he had read one of them, he looked 
 upon Brothers Joseph and Higbee with a kind of half frown, and 
 said, "What can I do? I can do nothing for you ! If I do anything 
 I shall come in contact with the whole State of Missouri." But the 
 brethren were not to be thus intimidated ; they demanded a hearing 
 and constitutional rights, when the President finally promised to 
 reconsider what he had said, and observed that he felt to sympa- 
 thize with the Saints because of their sufferings. * * * 
 
 Van Buren did not make a favorable impression upon Joseph, 
 who describes him as a small man with sandy complexion, ordinary 
 features, a frowning brow and an ill proportioned body; "and to 
 come directly to the point," he adds, "he is so much a fop or a fool 
 (for he judged our case before he knew it), that we could find no 
 place to put truth into him." 
 
 After their interview with the President they visited the mem- 
 bers of congress from Illinois, and delivered the letters of introduc- 
 tion which they had for them. These members were generally dis- 
 posed to favor Joseph and the Saints, and this was not without 
 cause. The Saints who had moved to Illinois were numerous, and 
 the men and party in whose favor their votes would be cast at an 
 election would be sure to win, as the two great political parties in 
 the State were about equally divided as to number at that time. 
 The members of Congress knew this, and as politicians it was to 
 their interest to do what they could for the Saints. Consequently 
 they met together and decided, after discussing the subject, that a 
 memorial and petition should be drawn up in a concise manner, 
 and that Judge Young, who was senator from Illinois, should pre- 
 sent the same to the Senate. It was expected that the matter would 
 be referred to the proper committee with all the accompanying 
 
PHYSICAL AND MENTAL SUFFERINGS OF PERSECUTORS 347 
 
 documents, and be printed. But all of Joseph's exertions, as well 
 as the testimonies, affidavits and other documents which they laid 
 before Congress, failed to have any effect. Neither the President, 
 nor the Senate and House of Representatives would do anything 
 to call the State of Missouri to account for the inhuman wrongs 
 which her people had inflicted upon unoffending free-born Ameri- 
 can citizens. The Church had appealed to governors and judges, 
 and now, through its President, it appealed to the Chief Executive 
 of the nation, and the Congress, in which every State in the Re- 
 public was represented — the highest authority in the land. There 
 was no redress to be obtained from them; nothing further could 
 be done, therefore, but to leave them in the hands of the Lord, who, 
 in his own due time, will plead the cause of His people. 
 
 It is interesting to read Joseph's views respecting the men he 
 was thrown in contact with at Washington. "For a general thing," 
 he said, "there is but little solidity and honorable deportment among 
 those who are sent to represent the people; but a great deal of 
 pomposity and show. * * * There is such an itching disposition to 
 display their oratory on the most trivial occasion, and so much 
 etiquette, bowing and scraping, twisting and turning to make a 
 display of their witticisms, that it seems to us rather a display of 
 folly and show, more than substance and gravity, such as becomes 
 a great nation like ours. However, there are some exceptions." 
 
 In the latter part of January, 1840, Joseph left Philadelphia 
 accompanied by Brothers Rockwell, Higbee and Foster, and again 
 visited Washington. Sidney Rigdon joined Joseph at Philadelphia, 
 but was still sick, and had to be left there. On his second visit to 
 the capitol Joseph had another interview^ with President Van Buren 
 who treated him very insolently. He listened very reluctantly to 
 what Joseph had to say, and in reply uttered that sentiment which 
 has obtained such a deservedly widespread notoriety among the 
 Latter-day Saints: "Gentlemen, your cause is just but I can do 
 nothing for you : and if I take up for you I shall lose the vote of 
 Missouri." 
 
 Respecting this interview, Joseph remarks : "His whole course 
 went to show that he was an office-seeker, that self-aggrandize- 
 ment was his ruling passion, and that justice and righteousness 
 were no part of his composition. I found him such a man as I 
 could not conscientiously support at the head of our great Republic." 
 Joseph also had an interview with John C. Calhoun, senator from 
 South Carolina ; but his treatment of Joseph was such as very ill 
 became his station. While conversing with him concerning the 
 persecution of the Saints, this renowned statesman said: "It in- 
 volves a nice question — the question of States rights ; it will not do 
 to agitate it." Henry Clay, another prominent senator, whose as- 
 sistance Joseph also sought, coldly remarked, in alluding to the 
 Saints: "You had better go to Oregon. * * *" 
 
 About four hundred and ninety-one persons held claims against 
 Missouri. These Joseph had presented to Congress. These claims 
 amounted, in all, to $1,381,044.51. But they were not all. There 
 was a multitude of similar bills which were to be presented, and 
 
348 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 respecting which Joseph said: "If not settled immediately, they 
 will ere long amount to a handsome sum, increasing by compound 
 interest." 
 
 Becoming satisfied that there was very little use for him to 
 tarry to press the just claims of the Saints on the attention of the 
 President and Congress, he left Washington in company with 
 Brother 0. P. Rockwell and Dr. Foster, and started on the home- 
 ward journey February 6, 1840. 
 
 Brother Elias Higbee stayed at Washington to have further 
 interviews with the congressional committee, and for several years 
 he labored faithfully, introducing additional testimony concerning 
 the Missouri persecution. The committee reported against Congress 
 doing anything about the business ; and that redress could only be 
 had in the Missouri courts and legislature. 
 
 Wednesday, March 4, 1840, writes Joseph, "I arrived safely 
 at Nauvoo, after a wearisome journey through alternate snows and 
 mud, having witnessed many vexatious movements in government 
 officers, whose sole object should be the peace and prosperity and 
 happiness of the ivhole people; but instead of this, I discovered that 
 popular clamor and personal aggrandizement were the ruling prin- 
 ciples of those in authority; and my heart faints tvithin me when 1 
 see, by the visions of the Almighty, the end of this nation, if she 
 continues to disregard the cries and petitions of her virtuous 
 citizens, as she has done, and is noiv doing. * * * 
 
 In speaking about the refusal of the government to grant 
 the Saints redress for the wrongs they had suffered, he says: 
 "Since Congress has decided against us, the Lord has begun to 
 vex the nation, and he will continue to do so, except they repent ; 
 for they now stand guilty of murder, robbery and plunder, as a 
 nation, because they have refused to protect their citizens and to 
 execute justice according to their own Constitution." 
 
 Historical Record, pp. 474, 475, 476, 477. 
 
 In passing through Carthage on his return from a preaching 
 mission to Ramus, May 18, 1843, Joseph dined with Judge Stephen A. 
 Douglas, who was there holding court. After dinner, Joseph, at the 
 judge's request, occupied three hours in giving him a minute history 
 of the persecutions of the Saints in Missouri. The judge listened 
 attentively, and spoke warmly in condemnation of the conduct of 
 Governor Lilburn W. Boggs and the authorities of Missouri, and said 
 that any people who had acted as the mobs of Missouri had done 
 ought to be punished. Joseph, in conclusion, said: 
 
 "I prophecy, in the name of the Lord God of Israel, unless the 
 United States redress the tvrongs committed upon the Saints in the 
 State of Missouri and punish the crimes committed by officers, 
 that in a few years the government tvill be utterly overthrown and 
 ivasted, and there ivill not be so much as a potsherd left for their 
 wickedness in permitting the murder of men, ivomen and children, 
 and the wholesale plunder and extermination of thousands of her 
 citizens to go unpunished, thereby perpetrating a foul and corroding 
 blot upon the fair fame of this great republic, the very thought of 
 
PHYSICAL AND MENTAL SUFFERINGS OF PERSECUTORS 349 
 
 which would have caused the high-minded and patriotic f tamers of 
 the Constitution of the United States to hide their faces ivith shame. 
 Judge, you will aspire to the Presidency of the United States, and 
 if you ever turn your hand against me or the Latter-day Saints, you 
 will feel the weight of the hand of the Almighty upon you; and you 
 will live to see and know that I have testified the truth to you, for 
 the conversation of this day will stick to you through life." 
 
 Historical Record, p. 514. 
 
 ELDER B. H. ROBERTS' PRESENTATION OF FACTS 
 
 This prophecy was first published in Utah, in the Deseret News 
 of September 24, 1856 ; it was afterwards published in England, in 
 the Millennial Star, February, 1859 (Vol. 21, No. 9). In both in- 
 stances it is found in the History of Joseph Smith, then being pub- 
 lished in sections in those periodicals. Stephen A. Douglas did aspire 
 to the presidency of the United States, and was nominated for that 
 office by the Democratic Convention, held in Charleston, on the 
 23rd of June, 1860. When in the convention he was declared the 
 regular nominee of the Democratic party, "the whole body rose to 
 its feet, hats were waved in the air and many tossed aloft ; shouts, 
 screams, and yells and every boisterous mode of expressing ap- 
 probation and unanimity, were resorted to." (See Cooper's Ameri- 
 can Politics, Book 1, p. 86.) 
 
 When Mr. Douglas aspired to the presidency, no man in the 
 history of American politics had more reason to hope for success. 
 The political party of which he was the recognized leader, in the 
 preceding presidential election had polled 174 electoral votes as 
 against 122 cast by the other two parties which opposed it; and a 
 popular vote of 1,838,169, as against 1,215,798 votes for the two 
 parties opposing. It is a matter of history, however, that the Demo- 
 cratic party in the election of 1860 was badly divided ; and fractions 
 of it put candidates into the field with the following result: Mr. 
 Abraham Lincoln, candidate of the Republican party, was tri- 
 umphantly elected. He received 180 electoral votes; Mr. Breckin- 
 ridge received 72 electoral votes ; Mr. Bell, 39 ; and Mr. Douglas 12. 
 "By a plurality count of the popular vote, Mr. Lincoln carried 18 
 states; Mr. Breckinridge 11; Mr. Bell 3, and Mr. Douglas but 1!" 
 (See tables in American Politics, Book -7, pp. 22, 26; also History 
 of U. S. by Alexander H. Stephens, p. 559.) Twenty days less than 
 one year after his nomination by the Charleston convention, while 
 yet in the prime of manhood — forty-eight years of age — Mr. Doug- 
 las died at his home in Chicago, a disappointed, not to say heart- 
 broken man. 
 
 Let us now search out the cause of his failure. Fourteen years 
 after the interview containing the prophecy had been published in 
 the Deseret News, Mr. Douglas was called upon to deliver a speech 
 in Springfield, the capital of Illinois. His speech was delivered on 
 the 12th of June, 1857; and published in the Missouri Republican 
 of June 18th, 1857. It was a time of much excitement throughout 
 the country concerning the Mormon Church in Utah. Falsehoods 
 upon the posting winds seemed to have filled the air with the most 
 
350 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 outrageous calumny. Crimes the most repulsive — murders, rob- 
 beries, rebellion, and high treason — were falsely charged against 
 its leaders. It was well known that Mr. Douglas had been on 
 terms of intimate friendship with the Prophet Joseph Smith; and 
 was well acquainted with the other church leaders. He was there- 
 fore looked upon as one competent to speak upon the "Mormon 
 Question," and was invited to do so in the speech to which reference 
 is here made. Mr. Douglas responded to the request. He grouped 
 the charges against the Mormons which were then passing cur- 
 rent, in the following manner: 
 
 "First, that nine-tenths of the inhabitants are aliens by birth who have 
 refused to become naturalized, or to take the oath of allegiance, or do any 
 other act recognizing the government of the United States as a paramount 
 authority in the territory (Utah). 
 
 "Second, that the inhabitants, whether native or alien born, known as 
 Mormons (and they constitute the whole people of the territory) are bound 
 by horrible oaths, and terrible penalties, to recognize and maintain the au- 
 thority of Brigham Young, and the government of which he is head, as 
 paramount to that of the United States, in civil as well as in religious affairs; 
 and they will in due time, and under the direction of their leaders, use all the 
 means in their power to subvert the government of the United States and 
 resist its authority. 
 
 "Third, that the Mormon government, with Brigham Young at its head, 
 is now forming alliance with Indian tribes in Utah and adjoining territories — 
 stimulating the Indians to acts of hostility — and organizing bands of his own 
 followers under the name of Danites or destroying angels, to prosecute a 
 system of robbery and murders upon American citizens who support the au- 
 thority of the United States, and denounce the infamous and disgusting prac- 
 tices and institutions of the Mormon government." 
 
 Mr. Douglas based his remarks upon these rumors against 
 the saints in the course of which he said : 
 
 "Let us have these facts in an official shape before the president and 
 congress and the country will soon learn that, in the performance of the high 
 and solemn duty devolving upon the executive and congress, there will be no 
 vacillating or hesitating policy. It will be as prompt as the peal that follows 
 the flash — as stern and unyielding as death. Should such a state of things 
 actually exist as we are led to infer from the reports — and such information 
 comes in an official shape — the knife must be applied to this pestiferous, dis- 
 gusting cancer which is gnawing into the very vitals of the body politic. It 
 must be cut out by the roots and seared over by the red hot iron of stern and 
 unflinching law. * * * Should all efforts fail to bring them (the Mormons) to 
 a sense of their duty, there is but one remedy left. Repeal the organic law of 
 the territory, on the ground that they are alien enemies and outlaws, unfit 
 to be citizens of a territory, much less ever to become citizens of one of the 
 free and independent states of this confederacy. To protect them further in 
 their treasonable, disgusting and bestial practices would be a disgrace to 
 the country — a disgrace to humanity — a disgrace to civilization, and a dis- 
 grace to the spirit of the age. Blot it out of the organized territories of the 
 United States. What then? It will be regulated by the law of 1790, which has 
 exclusive and sole jurisdiction over all the territory not incorporated under 
 any organic or special law. By the provisions of this law, all crimes and mis- 
 demeanors, committed on its soil, can be tried before the legal authorities of 
 any state or territory to which the offenders shall be first brought to trial, 
 and punished. Under that law persons have been arrested in Kansas, Nebraska 
 and other territories, prior to their organization as territories, and hanged 
 for their crimes. The law of 1790 has sole and exclusive jurisdiction where no 
 other law of a local character exists, and by repealing the organic law of 
 Utah, you give to the general government of the United States the whole and 
 sole jurisdiction over the territory." 
 
PHYSICAL AND MENTAL SUFFERINGS OF PERSECUTORS 351 
 
 The speech of Mr. Douglas was of great interest and impor- 
 tance to the people of Utah at that juncture. Mr. Douglas had it 
 in his power to do them a great good. Because of his personal 
 acquaintance with Joseph Smith and the great body of the Mor- 
 mon people then in Utah, as well as their leaders (for he had 
 known both leaders and people in Illinois, and those whom he had 
 known in Illinois constituted the great bulk of the people in Utah, 
 when he delivered that Springfield speech) — he knew that the re- 
 ports carried to the east by vicious and corrupt men were not true. 
 He knew that these reports, in the main, were but a rehash of the 
 old exploded charges made against Joseph Smith and his follow- 
 ers in Missouri and Illinois ; and he knew them to be false by many 
 evidences furnished him by Joseph Smith in the interview of the 
 18th of May, 1843, and by the Mormon people at sundry times dur- 
 ing his association with them at Nauvoo. He had an opportunity 
 to befriend the innocent ; to refute the calumnies cast upon a virtu- 
 ous community; to speak a word in behalf of the oppressed; but 
 the demagogue triumphed over the statesman, the politician over 
 the humanitarian; and to avoid the popular censure which he 
 feared befriending the Mormon people would bring to him, he 
 turned his hand against them, with the result that he did not de- 
 stroy them but sealed his own doom — in fulfillment of the words 
 of the prophet, he felt the weight of the hand of the Almighty 
 upon him. 
 
 It was impossible for any merely human sagacity to foresee 
 the events predicted in this prophecy. Stephen A. Douglas was 
 a bright, but comparatively an unknown man at the time of the 
 interview, in May, 1843. There is and can be no question about 
 the prophecy preceding the event. It was published, as before 
 stated, in the Deseret Neivs of the 24th of September, 1856 ; about 
 one year before the Douglas speech at Springfield, in June, 1857 ; 
 and about four years before Douglas was nominated for the presi- 
 dency by the Charleston Democratic Convention. 
 
 Moreover, a lengthy review of Mr. Douglas' speech was pub- 
 lished in the editorial columns of the Deseret News in the issue of 
 that paper for September 2nd, 1857, of which the following is the 
 closing paragraph, addressed directly to Mr. Douglas : 
 
 "In your last paragraph (of the Springfield speech) you say, 
 'I have thus presented to you plainly and fairly my viezvs of the 
 Utah question.' With at least equal plainness and far more fair- 
 ness have your vieivs now been commented upon. And inasmuch 
 as you ivere ivell acquainted ivith Joseph Smith and his people, also 
 ivith the character of your maligners, and did know their allega- 
 tions were false, but must bark with the dogs who ivere snapping at 
 our heels, to let them know that you ivere a dog ivith them; and 
 also that you may have a testimony of the truth of the assertion 
 that you did know Joseph Smith and his people and the char- 
 acter of their enemies, (and neither class have changed, only as the 
 saints have grown better and their enemies worse) ; and also that 
 you may thoroughly understand that you have voluntarily, know- 
 ingly, and of choice sealed your damnation, and by your own chosen 
 
352 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 course have closed your chance for the Presidential chair through 
 disobeying the counsel of Joseph, which you formerly sought and 
 prospered by following, and that you in common with us may testify 
 to all the world that Joseph was a true prophet, the following 
 extract from the history of Joseph Smith is again printed for your 
 benefit, and is kindly recommended to your careful perusal and 
 most candid consideration." . .Here follows the interview with 
 Judge Douglas. 
 
 I have been careful to state in full all the circumstances con- 
 nected with this remarkable prophecy in order that there might 
 be no question in relation to the prophecy itself, that is, no ques- 
 tion as to the prediction preceding the event, and its complete and 
 miraculous fulfillment. And now I have reached the point for the 
 argument. 
 
 The prophecy is a fact. Its fulfillment is a fact. God glorious- 
 ly fulfilled the prediction of His servant Joseph Smith, the prophet. 
 Stephen A. Douglas did aspire to the presidency of the United 
 States. He received the nomination for that high office from a 
 great political party. But he had raised his hand against the 
 Latter-day Saints, the people of the Prophet Joseph Smith; and 
 as a consequence he did feel the iveight of the hand of the Almighty 
 upon him; for all his hopes were blasted; he never reached the goal 
 of his ambition; he failed miserably , and died wretchedly, ivhen 
 his life had but reached high noon. Could anything be more clear 
 than that Stephen A. Douglas felt the iveight of the hand of the 
 Almighty upon him? But mark you, these calamities came upon 
 him for striking the saints of God in Utah. It was for turning his 
 hand against them that he ivas disappointed in his hopes, blasted 
 in his expectations, and died heartbroken. And when the Almighty 
 thus vindicated the predictions of his prophet upon the head of 
 this great man, He also did something more — He acknowledged the 
 saints in Utah as His people, the Church in Utah as His Church, 
 and there is no escaping the conclusion. 
 
 Under the date of November 27, 1860, Orson Hyde wrote to 
 Judge Douglas, from Ephraim, Utah Territory, as follows : 
 
 "Will the Judge now acknowledge that Joseph ivas a true 
 Prophet? If he ivill not, does he recollect a certain conversation had 
 with Mr. Smith, at the house of Sheriff Backenstos, in Carthage x 
 Illinois, in the year 1843, in which Mr. Smith said to him, 'You will 
 yet aspire to the Presidency of the United States. But if you ever 
 raise your hand, or your voice against the Latter-day Saints, you 
 shall never be President of the United States.' 
 
 "Does Judge Douglas recollect that in a public speech delivered 
 by him in the year 1857, at Springfield, Illinois, of comparing the 
 Mormon community, then constituting the inhabitants of the Utah 
 Territory, to a 'loathsome ulcer on the body politic/ and of recom- 
 mending the knife to be applied to cut it out? 
 
 "Among other things the Judge ivill doubtless recollect that I 
 ivas present and heard the conversation between him and Joseph 
 Smith, at Mr. Backenstos* residence in Carthage, before alluded to. 
 
 "Now, Judge, ivhat think you about Joseph Smith and 
 Mormonism?" Succession in the Presidency, By B. H. Roberts. 
 
Addenda 
 
 Important Note: On pages 290-1, mention is made of the 
 scourge of cholera among the camp. This is in fulfillment of the 
 word of the Lord through Joseph, which is as follows : 
 
 "While we were refreshing ourselves and teams about the 
 middle of the day, (June 3), I got up on a wagon wheel, called 
 the people together, and said that I would deliver a prophecy. 
 After giving the brethren much good advice, exhorting them to 
 faithfulness and humility, I said the Lord had revealed to me 
 that a scourge would come upon the camp in consequence of the 
 fractious and unruly spirits that appeared among them, and they 
 should die like sheep with the rot; still, if they would repent and 
 humble themselves before the Lord, the scourge, in a great meas- 
 ure, might be turned away; but, as the Lord lives, the members 
 of this camp will suffer for giving way to their unruly temper. * * * 
 
 On the 2nd (July, 1834) I went down near Liberty, and visited 
 the brethren. A considerable number of the camp met me at 
 Lyman Wight's. I told them if they would humble themselves 
 before the Lord and covenant to keep His commandments and 
 obey my counsel, the plague should be stayed from that hour, 
 and there should not be another case of the cholera among them. 
 The brethren covenanted to that effect with uplifted hands, and 
 the plague was stayed." d. H. C. 6:80, 120. 
 
 THE SELF-INFLICTED FATE OF A MOBOCRAT 
 
 "But the tempest of an immediate conflict seemed to be 
 checked, and the Jackson mob, to the number of about fifteen, 
 with Samuel C. Owens and James Campbell at their head, started 
 for Independence, Jackson County, to raise an army sufficient to 
 meet me before I could get into Clay County. Campbell swore as 
 he adjusted the pistols in his holsters. The eagles and turkey 
 buzzards shall eat my flesh, if I do not fix Joe Smith and his army 
 so that their skins will not hold shucks, before two days are passed.' 
 They went to the ferry and undertook to cross the Missouri River 
 after dark, and the angel of God saw fit to sink the boat about the 
 middle of the river, and seven out of twelve that attempted to cross 
 were drowned. Thus suddenly and justly went they to their own 
 place by water. Campbell was among the missing. He floated 
 down the river some four or five miles, and lodged upon a pile of 
 driftwood, where the eagles, buzzards, ravens, crows and wild 
 animals ate his flesh from his bones, to fulfill his own words, and 
 left him a horrible looking skeleton of God's vengeance : which was 
 discovered about three weeks after by one Mr. Purtle. Owens 
 saved his life only after floating four miles down the stream, where 
 he lodged upon an island, swam off naked about daylight, borrowed 
 a mantle to hide his shame and slipped home, rather shy of the 
 vengeance of God." instructor, Vol. 27. 
 
354 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 PROPHECIES FULFILLED AND YET FUTURE 
 
 By Orson Pratt: 
 
 Prussia ! the glory and pride of Germany ! Why are you thus 
 disquieted? Why are your borders menaced with strong and 
 powerful armies? Why are the fearful terrors of war already upon 
 you? It is because you, through the wickedness of your rulers, and 
 your unrighteous laws, rejected the great message which God sent 
 to you by his faithful servants. You forbid them to deliver the 
 glad tidings of the Gospel in your midst ; you ill-treated them, and 
 banished them from your country. If you had repented and turned 
 from all your sins, these great evils with which you are now 
 threatened would have been averted; but alas! it is now too late; 
 that which is decreed upon your devoted land must be fulfilled. As 
 you have rejected the only message which will save you, or any 
 other nation, God has rejected you, and your king and your nobles, 
 and all who sit in high places ; and you shall be brought down and 
 humbled ; and the days will shortly come that you will cease to be 
 a kingdom ; and if you still persist to fight against God and cast 
 out his servants, you shall be utterly overthrown. 
 
 Austria ! the stronghold of Catholicism ! Why have you so 
 framed your unholy laws, that the light of truth cannot penetrate 
 your country? Why have you effectually shut out all religious 
 liberty from the empire? Why do you imprison those who meet 
 together to read the Bible? Why do you banish the servants of the 
 Most High from your dominions, if they attempt to warn you of 
 your iniquities? Do you vainly flatter yourselves, that God will 
 not call you to an account? Do you suppose that you can measure 
 arms with the Almighty? That you can, with impunity, reject so 
 important a message as the one now sent from heaven? That you 
 can forever revel in your filth, and glory in the abundance of your 
 whoredoms? Your sins have reached the heavens! Your horrible 
 abominations have come up before the face of Him who sits upon 
 the throne, who holds the sword of justice in His own right hand, 
 who disposes of kingdoms and empires according to His will, who 
 executes fierce judgments upon the nations, and none can stay His 
 arm. The great day has come, for mourning, bitter weeping, and 
 sore lamentation throughout all your borders! The young, the 
 middle-aged, the flower of your armies, the pride and boast of the 
 empire, shall be trampled in the dust, and pass away ! Woes, fearful 
 desolations, and raging pestilences, will sweep over your guilty 
 provinces, and the end thereof shall be with consuming fire. 
 
 Let Saxony be called a desolation, because she persecuted the 
 Lord's servants, and banished the Saints from their midst. Let 
 the kingdoms of Hanover, and Bavaria, and the minor states of 
 Germany be seized with trembling; let their hearts be faint; let 
 sorrow and mourning enter their habitations, and let the angel of 
 death persecute them, because they have, for these many years, 
 thrust the servants and prophets of God into their loathsome 
 prisons, and turned a deaf ear to their humble warnings! There- 
 fore, let their thrones be cast down, and their governments be brok- 
 
ADDENDA 355 
 
 en to pieces. Lord, let not the cries of thine anointed ones come 
 up before thee in vain. Send forth judgment unto victory. Let 
 the nations who fight against thee, know that thou art God. Arise, 
 Lord, and thresh the nations, as with a new, sharp threshing 
 instrument, scatter them as chaff before the furious whirlwind; 
 break them to pieces, as potter's vessels, dashed upon the rocks; 
 and if they continue to harden their hearts against thy Gospel, 
 blot them out from under heaven, and let them go quickly down 
 into the pit among the uncircumcised of heart. But let thy king- 
 dom, God, stand forever, and let thy dominion have no end. 
 
 Millennial Star, 28:409-11. (1866.) 
 
 By Heber C. Kimball: 
 
 Will this land be a land of milk and honey? Yes. Missouri is 
 cracked up to be the greatest honey country that there is on the 
 earth; but it will not be many years before they cannot raise a 
 spoonful in that land, nor in Illinois, nor in any other land where 
 they fight against God. Mildew shall come upon their honey, their 
 bees, and their crops; and famine and desolation shall come upon 
 the nation like a whirlwind. j.d., 5:93. 
 
 ***** 
 
 An army of Elders will be sent to the four quarters of the 
 earth to search out the righteous and warn the wicked of what is 
 coming. All kinds of religions will be started and miracles per- 
 formed that will deceive the very elect if that were possible. Our 
 sons and daughters must live pure lives so as to be prepared for 
 what is coming. 
 
 After a while the gentiles will gather by the thousands to this 
 place, and Salt Lake City will be classed among the wicked cities 
 of the world. A spirit of speculation and extravagance will take 
 possession of the Saints, and the results will be financial bondage. 
 
 Persecution comes next and all true Latter-day Saints will be 
 tested to the limit. Many will apostatize and others will be still 
 not knowing what to do. Darkness will cover the earth and gross 
 darkness the minds of the people. The judgments of God will be 
 poured out on the wicked to the extent that our Elders from far 
 and near will be called home, or in other words the gospel will be 
 taken from the Gentiles and later on carried to the Jews. 
 
 The western boundary of the State of Missouri will be swept 
 so clean of its inhabitants that as President Young tells us, when 
 you return to that place, there will not be left so much as a yellow 
 dog to wag his tail. Before that day comes, however, the Saints 
 will be put to tests that will try the integrity of the best of them. 
 The pressure will become so great that the more righteous among 
 them will cry unto the Lord day and night until deliverance comes. 
 Then the prophet and others will make their appearance and those 
 who have remained faithful will be selected to return to Jackson 
 County, Missouri, and take part in the upbuilding of that beautiful 
 city, the New Jerusalem. 
 
 Deseret News, May 23, 1931. Prophecy and Modern Times, 
 
 by W. Cleon Skousen, pp. 31-32. 
 
356 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 By Brigham Young: 
 
 I heard Joseph Smith say, nearly thirty years ago. 'They 
 shall have mobbing to their hearts content, if they do not redress 
 the wrongs of the Latter-day Saints. Mobs will not decrease, but 
 will increase until the whole government becomes a mob, and 
 eventually it will be State against State, city against city, neighbor- 
 hood against neighborhood." Methodists against Methodists, and 
 so on. Probably you remember reading not a week ago, an account 
 of a conference being held in Baltimore, in the course of which 
 they seceded from their fellow-churches in the free States. It will 
 be the same with other denominations of professing Christians, and 
 it will be Christian against Christian, and man against man, and 
 those who will not take up the sword against their neighbors, must 
 flee to Zion. 
 
 We are blessed in these mountains; this is the best place on 
 the earth for the Latter-day Saints. Search the history of all the 
 nations and every geographical position on the face of the earth, 
 and you cannot find another situation so well adapted for the Saints 
 as are these mountains. Here is the place in which the Lord de- 
 signed to hide His people. Be thankful for it; be true to your 
 covenants, and be faithful, each and every one. 
 
 I am thankful that we live to see this day, and have the 
 privilege of assembling ourselves in these valleys. We are not 
 now mingling in the turmoils of strife, warring and contention — 
 that we would have been obliged to have mingled in, had not the 
 Lord suffered us to have been driven to these mountains — one of 
 the greatest blessings that could have been visited upon us. It has 
 been designed, for many generations, to hide up the Saints in the 
 last days, until the indignation of the Almighty be over. His wrath 
 will be poured out upon the nations of the earth. We see the nations 
 steadily driving along to the precipice. The Lord has spoken from 
 the heavens, and He is about to fulfill the prophecies of His ancient 
 and modern Prophets. He ivill bring the nations into judgment, and 
 deal zuith them and make a full end of them. Do you wish to see it 
 done today? Are you prepared for the crisis that will eventually 
 come? No. The Deseret Neivs, Vol. 11, No. 9, May 1, 1861. 
 
 By John Taylor: 
 
 Were we surprised when the last terrible war took place here 
 in the United States? No. Good Latter-day Saints were not, for 
 they had been told about it. Joseph Smith had told them where it 
 would start, that it should be a terrible time of bloodshed and that 
 it should start in South Carolina. But I tell you today the end 
 is not yet. You will see worse things than that, for God will lay 
 his hand upon this nation, and they will feel it more terribly than 
 even they have done before. There will be more bloodshed, more 
 ruin, more devastation than ever they have seen before. Write it 
 down ! You will see it come to pass ; it is only just starting in. And 
 would you feel to rejoice? No; I would feel sorry. I knew very 
 well myself when this last war w T as commencing and could have 
 
ADDENDA 357 
 
 wept and did weep, over this nation; but there is yet to come a 
 sound of war, trouble and distress, in which brother will be arrayed 
 against brother, father against son, son against father, a scene of 
 desolation and destruction that will permeate our land until it will 
 be a vexation to hear the report thereof. Would you help to bring 
 it about? No, I would not; I would stop it if I could. I would pour 
 in the oil and the wine and balm and try to lead people in the right 
 path that will be governed by it, but they won't. Our Elders would 
 do the same, and we are sending them forth doing all that we can, 
 selecting the very best men we can put our hands upon — men of 
 faith, men of honor, men of integrity — to go forth to preach the 
 Gospel to this nation and to other nations. /. d., Vol. 20:318. 
 
 By the Prophet Joseph: 
 
 Yet remember, if the Latter-day Saints are not restored to all 
 their rights and paid for all their losses, according to the known 
 rules of justice and judgment, reciprocation and common honesty 
 among men, that God will come out of his hiding place, and vex 
 this nation with a sore vexation; yea, the consuming wrath of an 
 offended God shall smoke through the nation with as much distress 
 and woe as independence has blazed through with pleasure and de- 
 light *** 
 From Letter of Joseph the Prophet to Senator John C. Calhoun. D.H.C., 6:158. 
 
 By Jedediah M. Grant : 
 
 One of the marked signs of the last days is the blindness of 
 the people ; we are told they would have eyes and see not, and ears 
 but hear not, and hearts but understand not. If in the days of 
 Jesus this was true of the Jews and surrounding nations, it is 
 doubly so now in relation to the nations with which we are ac- 
 quainted. 
 
 Though the fulfillment of the words of the prophets is clear 
 and visible to us as the noonday sun in its splendor, yet the people 
 of the world are blinded thereto ; they do not comprehend nor dis- 
 cern the hand of the Lord. The Saints who live in the Spirit, walk 
 by the Spirit, and are governed by the counsels of the Almighty, 
 can see the working of the Lord, not only in our midst * * * but we 
 let our minds stretch abroad to creation's utmost extent, and we 
 see the hand of the Lord in all the events of the earth. 
 
 We see it in the revolutions of our own continent; we see it 
 in the scattering and scourging of the house of Israel ; in the fading 
 away of nations, on the right and on the left. * * * We see it in the 
 preparations of war, and the framing of treaties of peace among 
 strong nations. The world is in commotion and the hearts of men 
 fail them for fear of the impending storm that threatens to en- 
 shroud all nations in its black mantle. Treaties of peace may be 
 made, and war will stop for a season, but there are certain decrees 
 of God, and certain bounds fixed, and laws and edicts passed the 
 high courts of heaven beyond which the nations cannot pass ; and 
 when the Almighty decrees the wicked shall slay the wicked, strong 
 nations may interfere, peace conventions may become rife in the 
 
358 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 world and exert their influence to sheath the sword of war, and 
 make treaties of peace to calm the troubled surface of all Europe, 
 to no effect ; the war cloud is still booming o'er the heavens, darken- 
 ing the earth, and threatening the world with desolation. 
 
 This is a fact the saints have known for many years — that 
 the Gods in yonder heavens have something to do with these revolu- 
 tions ; the angels, those holy beings who are sent from the heavens 
 to the earth to minister in the destiny of nations, have something 
 to do in these mighty revolutions and convulsions that shake cre- 
 ation almost to its center. 
 
 Consequently, when we see nation stirred up against nation, 
 and on the other hand see other nations exerting a powerful in- 
 fluence to bring about negotiations of peace, shall we say they can 
 bring it about? Do we expect they can stay the onward course of 
 War? The prophet of God has spoken it all, and we expect to see 
 the work go on — and see all things fulfilled as the prophets have 
 declared by the spirit of prophecy in them. 
 
 Three days before the Prophet Joseph started for Carthage, I 
 well remember his telling us we should see the fulfillment of the 
 words of Jesus upon the earth, where He says the father shall be 
 against the son, and the son against the father ; the mother against 
 the daughter, and the daughter against the mother ; the mother-in- 
 law against the daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against 
 the mother-in-law ; and when a man's enemies shall be those of his 
 own household. 
 
 The Prophet stood in his own house when he told several of us 
 of the night the visions of heaven were opened to him, in which 
 he saw the American continent drenched in blood, and he saw na- 
 tion rising against nation. He also saw the father shed the blood 
 of the son, and the son shed the blood of the father; the mother 
 put to death the daughter, and the daughter the mother; and 
 natural affection forsook the hearts of the wicked ; for he saw that 
 the Spirit of God should be withdrawn from the inhabitants of the 
 earth, in consequence of which there should be blood upon the face 
 of the whole earth, except among the people of the Most High. The 
 Prophet gazed upon the scene his vision represented, until his heart 
 sickened and he besought the Lord to close it up again. 
 
 J. of D., 2:146-7. 
 
ADDENDA -B 359 
 
 MEMORIES OF CARTHAGE JAIL 
 By Franklin D. Richards 
 
 "On the noon of Tuesday, the 19th, we left for Jacksonville, 
 215 miles from Chicago, and the next morning we reached Carthage, 
 in Hancock County. It was to this point that our thoughts had 
 long tended. And the moment that we reached the town we sought 
 out the historical jail. It is now occupied as a dwelling house by 
 James M. Browning, a respectable and courteous man, who has in 
 his time held the office of county treasurer. Today it seems a place 
 of peace. To the casual observer it would possess not even a pass- 
 ing interest. But to us who held the knowledge of the mighty events 
 which had transpired within its walls, of the dark cloud of sin which 
 had rested upon it, and of the mighty martyrdom which had cried 
 aloud to heaven and the ages from its bullet-torn frame — there was 
 something so impressive in its every stone that our hearts were 
 filled with solemnity, and our eyes with tears. We went into the 
 room which had been the prison-place of God's servants previous to 
 the murderous attack. We stood upon the self-same floor which 
 was trodden by the feet of Joseph and Hyrum and John Taylor and 
 Willard Richards on that cruel day of slaughter. We saw the hole 
 in the door made by the bullet which gave Hyrum his mortal wound. 
 We bowed over the spot where he fell exclaiming, "I am a dead 
 man." With chastened feelings, we stood at the door-frame and 
 recalled how President Taylor had interposed his body between the 
 Prophet and his bloodthirsty assailants, and how he had struggled 
 to beat back the guns of the murderers, while discharging a torrent 
 of flames and lead. We leaned from that famous window from which 
 the Prophet jumped or fell, and from which President Taylor was 
 thrown wounded and stricken and tossed back by that providential 
 bullet which struck his watch, shattered it, and cast him upon the 
 floor. We thought of this wonderful interposition of almighty power 
 which saved his life for the great purposes which God has since 
 accomplished through him, and which are yet in store. We retraced 
 our steps down that tragic stairway which had once been crowded 
 with devils in human form, and sought the well where Joseph Smith, 
 the Prophet of God, ended his earthly career. But it is now filled up. 
 The spot, however, is easily discernible. It is now a dainty flower 
 bed, bearing masses of pure and fragrant blossoms. It was sweet 
 to see the spot so hallowed — this ground where Joseph lay stretched 
 in death, "when the fiend approached with a knife to sever the 
 head from his body, and was stopped by a flash of lightning from 
 the heavens." With the remembrance of all these things upon us — 
 recalling the blackness of that hour, the woes of our subsequent 
 wrongs, and then looking at the wondrous condition of the Church 
 today, we were lost in a wilderness of emotions. There was much 
 sadness in this visit, and the memories which it called forth. But 
 there was a compensating sensation of triumph in the thought of 
 the utter powerlessness of mankind — even though calling murder 
 and rapine to their aid, to war successfully against the cause which 
 has within itself the seeds of divine progress." 
 
 Contributor, 7:299. May, 1886. 
 
360 ADDENDA C 
 
 (1967) 
 
 L.D.S. CHURCH HISTORIAN RECORDS LIGHT FROM HEAVEN 
 
 by Andrew Jensen 
 
 Joseph, seeing there was no safety in the room, turned calmly 
 from the door, dropped his pistol on the floor and sprang into the 
 same window from which Elder Taylor had attempted to leap, 
 when two balls pierced him from the door, and one entered his right 
 breast from without, and he fell outward, exclaiming, "0 Lord, 
 my God!" He fell partly on his right shoulder and back, his head 
 and neck reaching the ground a little before his feet, and he rolled 
 instantly on his face. 
 
 In the instant Joseph fell out of the window the cry was raised, 
 "He's leaped the window!" and the painted murderers on the stairs 
 and in the entry ran out, 
 
 Among the murderers outside was a man, barefoot and bare- 
 headed, without a coat, his shirt-sleeves rolled up above his elbows 
 and his pants above his knees ; he lifted Joseph up and propped him 
 against the south side of the well curb, which stood a few T feet from 
 the jail. Colonel Levi Williams then ordered four men to shoot him. 
 They stood about eight feet from the curb and fired simultaneously. 
 A slight cringe of the body was noticed as the balls struck him, and 
 he fell on his face. 
 
 The ruffian who set him against the well-curb, then took a bowie- 
 knife, with the evident intention of cutting off his head, for which, 
 according to reports, a considerable sum of money had been offered 
 by the mob. As he raised the knife, and was in the attitude of strik- 
 ing, a light, so sudden and powerful, burst from the heavens upon 
 the bloody scene (passing its vivid chain between Joseph and the 
 murderers), that they were struck with terror. The arms of the 
 ruffian that held the knife fell powerless; the muskets of the four 
 who fired fell to the ground, and they all stood like marble statues, 
 not having the power to move a single limb of their bodies. 
 
 After shooting him, the murderers hurried off in a disorderly 
 manner, as fast as they could. Colonel Williams shouted to some 
 who had just commmenced their retreat, to come back and help to 
 carry off the four men who were still paralyzed. They came and 
 carried them away by main strength to the baggage wagons, and 
 they all fled towards Warsaw. 
 
 Historical Record: 7-471 
 
Index 
 
 Allen, Orville, met mobocrats in south, 232. 
 American nation, doom of, 346. 
 Angels visit Joseph Smith, 10. 
 Apostates, remorse of, 76 ; first a. in church, 
 75 ; fate of, 111. 
 
 Backenstos, Sheriff J. B., identifies murderers, 
 269 ; is acquitted of murder, 310. 
 
 Baldwin, Caleb in Liberty Prison, 102. 
 
 Barber, John D. meets son of mobocrat, 71. 
 
 Barnes, Thomas L. writes of martyrdom, 220. 
 
 Belton, James, fate of, 305-6. 
 
 Bennett, James A., letter from Joseph Smith 
 to, 11. 
 
 Bennett, John C, a traitor, 37; character of, 
 168; fate of, 326. 
 
 Bettisworth, David, had message on martyr- 
 dom, 100; arrested the prophet, 17S. 
 
 Berry, Elder Wm. S., murder of. 339. 
 
 Bidamon, L. C, tells of persecution of saints, 
 48 ; flees from Nauvoo, 52 ; meets the 
 prophet, 52. 
 
 Blakeslee, James, a conspirator, 80. 
 
 Browning, O. H., pleads cause of the prophet, 
 53 ; letter to from Joseph Smith, 195 ; is 
 counsel for murderers, 274. 
 
 Boggs, Gov. Lilburn W., exterminating order 
 of, 102; fate he should receive, 306; emi- 
 grates to California, 306. 
 
 Booth, Erza, first apostate of the Church, 75 ; 
 fate of, 76. 
 
 Brownlow, Wm. G., glories in the martyrdom, 
 237. 
 
 Buchanan, President James, fate of, 342. 
 
 Burton, Robert I., tells of L. D. S. raiders, 345. 
 
 Butler, John L., experience with mob in 
 Missouri, 62. 
 
 Cahoon, Reynolds, takes message of the 
 prophet, 120. 
 
 Cane Creek murderers, fate of, 336, 339. 
 
 Campbell, Alexander, glories in the martyrdom, 
 237. 
 
 Campbell, James, leader of mobs, 353. 
 
 Cannon, George Q., tells of greatness of Joseph 
 Smith, 19 ; admonishes the youth, 23 ; hears 
 last speech of Joseph Smith, 160 ; testifies of 
 light from heaven, 227 ; powers of darkness 
 prevail at martyrdom, 266 ; tells character 
 of Governor Ford, 302 ; none will prosper 
 who fight Mormonism, 344. 
 
 Carthage Jail, description of, 167. 
 
 Chappel, Wm. H., hears mobber testify, 290. 
 
 Christensen, Adessa L., affidavit of, 80. 
 
 Church, History of, forever untold, 53. 
 
 Congress, Memorial to, 30 ; memorial of 
 Joseph Smith to, 138. 
 
 Conspirators, oath of, 88 ; character of, 80. 
 
 Conspiracies against life of Joseph Smith, li. 
 
 Cottam, Thomas, sees prophet for last time, 
 153. 
 
 Cowdery, Oliver, cause of fall of, 340 ; inter- 
 view with, 341. 
 
 Courts of heaven, to try case of saint.-, 270. 
 
 Cowles, Austin A., a conspirator, 79, 84. 
 
 Cox, J. C, diary of, 294. 
 
 Cummings, Horace H., writes conspiracy of 
 Nauvoo, 84. 
 
 Daniels, Wm. M., saw flash of light, 226 ; 
 identifies murderers, 268. 
 
 Darnell, M. B., witnessed martyrdom, 212. 
 
 Douglas, Stephen A., prophetic fate of, 349 ; 
 his talk against saints, 350 ; Deseret News 
 reviews his talk, 351 ; B. H. Roberts re- 
 views his political history, 352 ; Orson Hyde 
 writes him, 352. 
 
 Duncan, Joe, horse of prophet, how named, 
 41. 
 
 Eardley, Elder Bedson, fate of man who 
 persecuted, 343. 
 
 Ensign Peak, named by Brigham Young, 143. 
 
 Ford, Gov. Thomas, a conspirator, 95-99 ; a 
 modern Nero, 100 ; said Joseph Smith 
 planned the exodus, 145 ; tells of conditions 
 in 1844, 174 ; interview with Joseph Smith, 
 189 ; implicated in martyrdom, 207 ; his 
 views on martyrdom, 239 ; reviews trial of 
 murderers, 276 ; biography of, 299 ; last 
 days of, 299 ; retributive justice on, 300 ; 
 unkept grave of, 301 ; fate pursues, 302 ; a 
 true picture of, 302. 
 
 Ford, James H., deputy sheriff in 1838. 
 
 Forsgren, John E., hears the prophet the last 
 time, 154. 
 
 Foster, Chas. D., saw light from heaven, 230. 
 
 Foster, Robert D., a conspirator, 79, 99 ; 
 character of, 80, 169 ; in Nauvoo con- 
 spiracy, 86 ; remorse of, 309. 
 
 Fullmer, John S., Joseph Smith's last words 
 to, 149. 
 
 Gallatin, Mo., election troubles at, 62. 
 Gibbs, Elder John H., murder of, 339. 
 Gospel, result of rejecting, 345. 
 Grant, George D. had message on martyrdom, 
 
 100. 
 Grant, Jedediah M., prophecy by, 357. 
 
 Harris, Dennison, experience with Nauvoo 
 conspiracy, 84. 
 
 Harris, Emer, experience with Nauvoo con- 
 spiracy, 85. 
 
 Haun's mill massacre, mobocrats fate of, 321. 
 
362 
 
 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 Haymore, Arthur S. learns of fate of mobo- 
 
 crat, 305. 
 Head, Wm, T., testifies of light from heaven, 
 
 228. 
 Hedlock, Reuben, letter of instruction to, 234. 
 Higbee, Chauncey L., a conspirator, 79, 99 ; 
 
 character of, 80 ; in Nauvoo conspiracy, 84 ; 
 
 curse on, 304. 
 Higbee, Francis M., a conspirator, 79, 99 ; 
 
 character of, 80 ; in Nauvoo conspiracy, 84 ; 
 
 a murderer, 204 ; curse on, 304. 
 Hinkle, Col. George M., end of, 323. 
 Huntington, O. B., tells of exodus, 132. 
 Hyde, Orson, to carry memorial to congress, 
 
 139 ; says saints will be protected, 148 ; 
 
 writes on martyrdom, 254 ; writes to Stephen 
 
 A. Douglas, 352. 
 
 Illinois, mobocracy of, 35. 
 
 Jackson County, devastation of, 327. 
 
 Jenson, Andrew, describes Liberty Jail, 106 ; 
 tells fate of Missouri mobocrats, 311. 
 
 Johnson, Father, home of 70. 
 
 Johnson, Benj. F., tells of nobility of Joseph 
 Smith, 23 ; charmed life of, 46 ; tells of 
 history of the church, 54 ; tells cause of 
 persecution, 69 ; says traitors advised 
 prophet to return, 148 ; says Joseph Smith 
 longed for his rest, 267 ; journey west, 308. 
 
 Jones, Dan, searches for Joseph Smith, 43. 
 
 Judases to the prophet, 78, 99. 
 
 Judgments predicted, 142. 
 
 Kimball, Heber C, tells of greatness of Joseph 
 
 Smith, 16 ; prophecies by, 355. 
 Kimball, Hiram, a traitor, 121. 
 Kimball, Mary Ellen, sees prophet for last 
 
 time, 152. 
 King, George E., hears fate of mobocrat, 297. 
 
 Lambourn, Josiah, is counsel for the state, 
 
 274. 
 Larson, Hannah R., affidavit of, 80. 
 Latter-day saint homes, fate of raiders of, 
 
 345. 
 Laub, George W., says Joseph Smith arrested 
 
 42 times, 48. 
 Law, William, a Brutus, 78 ; character of, 80 ; 
 
 a conspirator, 81, 83, 84; cause of downfall 
 
 of, 82 ; murderous intentions of, 82, 99, 
 
 168. 
 Law, Wilson, a conspirator, 79, 99 ; character 
 
 of, 80 ; 169 ; in Nauvoo conspiracy, 84. 
 Lawson, L. M., tells of devastation of Jackson 
 
 county, 329. 
 Layton, Christopher, hears Joseph Smith for 
 
 last time, 153 ; sorrow of saints at martyr- 
 dom, 266. 
 Liberty Prison, writeup on, by B. H. Roberts, 
 
 102 ; by Thomas C. Romney, 105 ; by Andrew 
 
 Jenson and Edward Stevenson, 106 ; human 
 
 flesh fed in, 109. 
 
 Littlefield, L. O., meets the prophet, 18; 
 home of, 280 ; hears gospel, 280 ; receives 
 testimony of divine mission of Joseph Smith, 
 282 ; tells of character of Joseph Smith, 284 ; 
 tells fate of Gov. Ford, 300 ; with the 
 prophet in Zion's Camp, 280. 
 
 Macedonia troops, orders to, 150. 
 
 McLellin, Wm., steals from home of the 
 prophet, 110. 
 
 McRae, Alexander, in Liberty Prison, 102. 
 
 McRae, Joseph A. states human flesh served 
 in jail, 109. 
 
 Marks, Wm., a conspirator, 249. 
 
 Markham, Stephen, was with prophet at 
 Dixon, 38 ; saw light from heaven, 230 ; 
 last words of Joseph Smith to, 150. 
 
 Martyrs, funeral of, 249 ; graves of, 252. 
 
 Martineau, Jane H., writes on Benjamin F. 
 Johnson, 46. 
 
 Martyrdom of Joseph Smith, by Ben E. Rich, 
 235; by Willard Richards, 236; Wm. G. 
 Brownlow rejoices at, 237 ; Alexander Camp- 
 bell rejoices at, 237 ; newspaper comments 
 on, 238 ; Gov. Ford's views on, 239 ; Thomas 
 C. Sharp rejoices on, 241 ; planned by lead- 
 ing men of the nation, 327. 
 
 Merrill, Philemon C., wrestles with mobocrat, 
 42. 
 
 McBride, Thomas, is butchered at Haun's 
 Mill, 57. 
 
 Ministers, modern, a persecuting class, 68, 77. 
 
 Missionaries, fate of persecutors of, 343. 
 
 Missouri, mobocracy of, 30, 35, 37. 
 
 Mobocrat, comes to Utah, 290 ; roams western 
 sheep ranges, 297 ; buried in the ocean, 315. 
 
 Mobocrats, fate of, 115, 294, 311, 321, 328, 332, 
 334, 353. 
 
 Mobs, persecution from, 30, 35. 
 
 Mobocracy, record to be kept of, 117. 
 
 Mormonism, none will prosper who fight 
 against, 342. 
 
 Morgan, Eliza, testifies of light from heaven, 
 227. 
 
 Moroni, visitation of, 4 ; instructions from, 7 ; 
 prophet's mother tells of, 9. 
 
 Morrison, Thomas, issues writ on Joseph 
 Smitb, 176. 
 
 Moyle, Henry G., meets a mobocrat, 304. 
 
 Moyle, James H., meets mobocrats, 303, 306. 
 
 Mummies, Egyptian mob to burn, 44. 
 
 Murderers of Joseph Smith, plans laid for 
 trial of, 272 ; Church not to prosecute, 273 ; 
 judgments will come to, 320. 
 
 Nauvoo, cannonading of, 50 ; conspiracy of, 
 84 ; curse of God on, 143 ; real estate 
 valued in, 315, names of city council of, 
 176. 
 
 Nauvoo Expositor, history of, 171 ; to be 
 abated as a nuisance, 176. 
 
 Nauvoo House, work stopped on, 146. 
 
 Nauvoo Temple, plans laid for exodus in, 135. 
 
 Nephites, Prophet Joseph tells of civilization 
 of, 10. 
 
INDEX 
 
 363 
 
 Nichols, Thomas, meets a mobocrat, 297. 
 Nye, E. H., meets witness to martyrdom, 219. 
 
 Owens, Sam C, leader of mobs, 37, 353. 
 
 Parrish, Joel, meets Thomas C. Sharpe, 304. 
 
 Penrose, Charles W., tells fate of rejectors of 
 the gospel, 345. 
 
 Polk, James K., appeal for aid to, 34. 
 
 Pratt, Louisa B., tells of sorrow of saints, 
 263. 
 
 Pratt, Orson, describes visitation of angel, 
 3, 7 ; greatness of Joseph Smith, 12 ; min- 
 isters originate persecution, 77 ; travels of 
 saints to the west, 307 ; judgments on perse- 
 cutors, 320 ; prophecies fulfilled and yet 
 future, 354. 
 
 Pratt, Parley P., tells of greatness of Joseph 
 Smith, 14, 15 ; personality of Joseph Smith, 
 17 ; in a Missouri dungeon, 55 ; says Joseph 
 Smith had completed his work, 163 ; sorrow 
 at time of martyrdom, 256 ; tells of fate of 
 mobbers in Calif., 334. 
 
 Preachers, mobs led by, 69 ; B. H. Roberts' 
 estimation of, 68. 
 
 Price, Robert, tells of Cane Creek massacre, 
 336. 
 
 Pulsipher, John, tells of greatness of Joseph 
 Smith, 45. 
 
 Quincy, Josiah, opinion of Joseph Smith, 22. 
 
 Randall, Alfred, affidavit of, 96. 
 
 Raymond, Silas, had his father's tar bucket, 
 71 ; fate of his father, 71. 
 
 Reid, John, tells of greatness of Joseph Smith, 
 13 ; his inspired defense of Joseph Smith, 66. 
 
 Reynolds, Joseph, a persecutor of Joseph 
 Smith, 37. 
 
 Reynolds, Gov. Thomas, persecutes Joseph 
 Smith, 37; fate of, 306. 
 
 Rich, Ben E., writes on greatness of Joseph 
 Smith, 235. 
 
 Rich, Chas. C, searches for the prophet, 44. 
 
 Richards, Samuel W., is chosen to explore 
 west, 122, 126 ; sees vision of future events, 
 130. 
 
 Richards, Willard, describes martyrdom of 
 the prophet, 164 ; issues letter of instruc- 
 tions, 234. 
 
 Richards, Wm. A., is counsel for murderers 
 of the prophet, 274. 
 
 Rider, Simonds, a Campbellite preacher, 74 ; 
 the first apostate from the church, 75. 
 
 Rider, Hartwell, interview with, 75. 
 
 Rigdon, Sidney, a conspirator, 79 ; in Liberty 
 Prison, 102. 
 
 Riter, W. H., reports fate of mobocrats, 323. 
 
 Roberts, B. H., replies to ministerial associa- 
 tion, 69 ; writes on tarring and feathering 
 of Joseph Smith, 75 ; on Liberty Jail, 102 ; 
 on funeral of the martyrs, 248 ; on location 
 of graves of martyrs, 250 ; secured bodies 
 in Cane Creek massacre, 336 ; presents 
 facts on Stephen A. Douglas prophecy, 349. 
 
 Rockwell, Orrin P., affidavit of, 98; kills a 
 
 mobocrat, 310. 
 Rocky Mountains, plans made to go to, 119, 
 
 120-149; Joseph longed to be in, 147. 
 Rogers, Aurelia S., mourns at the martyrdom, 
 
 262. 
 Roundy, Shadrach, Joseph Smith tells of 
 
 exodus to, 134. 
 
 Saints, why persecuted, 45 ; revelation given 
 to s. in Liberty Prison, 115 ; to be out 
 of power of enemies, 146 ; will be pro- 
 tected, 147; sorrow and mourning of, 254, 
 259, 265, 266 ; protected at time of martyr- 
 dom, 265 ; conduct of s. going west, 308. 
 
 Salesbury, Catherine, hears Joseph Smith for 
 last time, 157 ; tells of funeral of Joseph 
 Smith, 243. 
 
 Saxey, A., tells of devastation of Jackson 
 County, 330. 
 
 Sessions, Perrigrine, hears cursing and bless- 
 ing, 333. 
 
 Sharp, Thomas C, a criminal, 51 ; approved 
 murder of. Joseph Smith, 241 ; goes to his 
 reward, 318. 
 
 Scott, Robert, experience in Nauvoo conspiracy, 
 84. 
 
 Sherwood, Henry G., Joseph Smith's last 
 words to, 149. 
 
 Smith, Alma, wounding and healing of, 58. 
 
 Smith, Emma, implores prophet to return. 
 120 ; hostess to mobocrats, 43 ; letter to 
 from the prophet, 112. 
 
 Smith, Frederick G., exhumes bodies of 
 martyrs, 246. 
 
 Smith, George A., cites lawsuits prophet ex- 
 perienced, 48 ; tells of exodus, 142. 
 
 Smith, Hyrum, in Liberty Prison, 102 ; plans 
 for exodus to west, 121; murder of, 199; 
 organizes for Zion's camp, 281 ; honored 
 and loved, 282 ; a support to the prophet 
 285. 
 
 Smith, Lucy Mack, tells of Moroni's visit, 
 9 ; relates hospitality of the prophet, 19 ; 
 mourning of at time of martyrdom, 245 ; 
 prophet's fleeing from Kirtland, 44. 
 
 Smith, Mrs. George A., tells of sorrow over 
 martyrdom of Joseph Smith, 259. 
 
 Smith, John L., sees prophet for last time, 
 152. 
 
 Smith, Joseph, Sr., gives prophet a blessing, 
 17 ; had power to bless or curse, 331. 
 
 Smith, Wm., tells of life of the prophet, 20. 
 
 Smith, Willard G., tells of Haun's Mill massa- 
 cre, 56 ; time of martyrdom, 60 ; in Mormon 
 Battalion, 60 ; meets murderer of his 
 brother, 61. 
 
 Smith, Sardis, killing and plea of, 57, 62. 
 
 Smith, Joseph, birth of, 1 ; revivals in neigh- 
 borhood of, 1 ; receives answer to prayer, 
 2 ; has vision, 3 ; visitation of Moroni to, 
 4 ; receives instructions from Moroni, 7 ; 
 many angels visit, 10 ; replies to James A. 
 Bennett, 11 ; greatness of Joseph Smith 
 
3<;4 
 
 FATE OF JOSEPH SMITH'S PERSECUTORS 
 
 by Eliza R. Snow, 12 ; by Orson Pratt, 
 12; by John Taylor, 12; by Brigham Young, 
 13; by Parley P. Pratt, 14-17; by David 
 Whitmer, 15; by John Reid, 13; by Wil- 
 ford Woodruff, 16 ; by Heber C. Kimball, 
 16; by William Smith, 20; by John A. 
 Widtsoe, 22; blessing of his father to, 17; 
 his personality by Parley P. Pratt, 17 ; 
 L. O. Littlefield meets Joseph Smith, 18 ; 
 hospitality of Joseph Smith, 19, 59 ; none 
 could comprehend Joseph Smith, 19 ; Josiah 
 Quincy's opinion of, 22 ; admonition of 
 George Q. Cannon on, 23 ; nobility of Joseph 
 Smith by Benjamin F. Johnson, 23 ; sickness 
 of, 24 ; truths taught by, 25 ; forebodings 
 of, 27, 93 ; charge to the Twelve by, 27 ; 
 transfiguration of, 28 ; John Taylor's song 
 in honor of, 28 ; persecutions endured by, 
 3S, 40, 45; legal trials of, 36; kidnapping 
 of, 38 ; is given five years to live, 44 ; was 
 not to see forty years, 44 ; tells why saints 
 are persecuted, 45 ; had been arrested 42 
 times in 1843, 47 ; lawsuits subjected to, 
 48 ; L. C. Bidamon's opinion of, 52 ; Joseph 
 Smith before a court of law, 52 ; in a 
 Missouri dungeon, 55, his love for boys, 
 60 ; cause of persecution of, 69 ; is tarred 
 and feathered, 71 ; fate of mobbers who 
 tarred and feathered Joseph Smith, 71, 72 ; 
 conspiracies against life of, 78, 83, 84 ; 
 was not a fallen prophet, 91 ; Judases to, 
 78, 99 ; prayer of, in Liberty prison, 104 ; 
 courage of Joseph Smith in prison, 106 ; 
 confinement in Liberty prison, 107 ; wrestles 
 with a mobocrat, 109 ; prayer circle held 
 for, 110; receives revelation in prison, 
 111 ; writes letter to his wife Emma, 112; a 
 message of comfort from the Lord, 116; 
 his only way to escape martyrdom, 119 ; 
 starts to the Rocky Mountains, 120 ; returns 
 to be slaughtered, 121 ; appoints men to 
 explore the west, 125 ; Joseph Smith spoke 
 of exodus in 1834, 126 ; prophesied saints 
 to become a great people, 126 ; Joseph Smith 
 tells of exodus in 1839, 132; tells Anson 
 Call of exodus, 133; tells Shadrach Roundy 
 of exodus, 134 ; plans land for exodus, 137 ; 
 writes memorial to Congress, 138 ; Brigham 
 Young successor to, 140 ; directs Brigham 
 Young where to lead saints, 143 ; Brigham 
 Young would have prevented massacre of, 
 143; last speech of, 144; Gov. Ford says 
 Joseph Smith planned exodus, 145 ; says 
 saints to be out of power of enemies in five 
 years, 146 ; Joseph Smith longed to be in 
 Rocky Mountains, 147 ; Joseph Smith ad- 
 vised by traitors, 148 ; last farewells of, 149 ; 
 last words to Henry G. Sherwood, 149 ; last 
 words to Daniel H. Wells, 149 ; bids his 
 family good bye, 149 ; last words to Stephen 
 Markham, 150 ; personal farewells of Joseph 
 Smith, 150; by Wilford Woodruff, 150; 
 by John L. Smith. 151 ; by Mary Ellen 
 Kimball, 152; by Thomas Cottam, 152; 
 by Christopher Layton, 154 ; by John S. 
 
 Forsgren, 154 ; by his sister, 157 ; by Wil- 
 ford Woodruff, 158 ; by Mercy R. Thompson, 
 159; by George Q. Cannon, 160; Joseph 
 Smith desired Hyrum to avenge his blood, 
 161 ; Joseph Smith writes to Twelve, 162 ; 
 had completed his work, 163 ; martyrdom 
 of Joseph Smith, 164-211 ; attitude of Joseph 
 Smith in abating Nauvoo Expositor, 172 ; 
 interview with Gov. Ford, 188 ; letter to 
 lawyer O. H. Browning, 195 ; M. B. Darnell 
 tells of martyrdom of, 212; leader of 
 Carthage Greys tells of martyrdom of, 215 ; 
 missionary visits witness who saw Joseph 
 Smith killed, 219 ; Thomas L. Barnes writes 
 of martyrdom, 220 ; poem by Eliza R. Snow 
 on martyrdom, 224 ; body of Joseph Smith 
 not permitted to be mutilated by Wm. M. 
 Daniels, 226 ; by Eliza Morgan, 227 ; by 
 George Q. Cannon, 227 ; by Wm. T. Head, 
 228 ; by Edward W. Tullidge, 228 ; by 
 Sulvia Whitmar, 229 ; by Stephen Markham, 
 230 ; by Charles D. Foster, 230 ; by Cyrus 
 Wheelock, 231 ; by Orville Allen, 232 ; Joseph 
 Smith had suffered enough, 237 ; funeral of, 
 242 ; mock burial of, 243 ; buried under 
 Nauvoo House, 244 ; body of Joseph Smith 
 moved, 244 ; sorrow of Joseph Smith's 
 mother, 245 ; Joseph Smith's grave dese- 
 crated, 246 ; funeral of Joseph Smith, 249 ; 
 location of grave of, 250 ; Wilford Woodruff 
 and Brigham Young weep over death of, 
 255 ; location of Twelve at time of martyr- 
 dom, 256 ; Parley P. Pratt's sorrow over 
 martyrdom, 256 ; sorrow of Mrs. George A. 
 Smith, 259 ; Franklin D. Richards describes 
 mourning manifested by saints, 256 ; Aurelia 
 S. Rogers' grief, 262 ; Louisa B. Pratt de- 
 scribes the darkness of the hour, 262 ; God 
 protected saints at time of martyrdom, 265 ; 
 wailing of saints at time of martyrdom, 
 265 ; powers of darkness prevailed at time 
 of martyrdom, 266 ; identity of murderers 
 of, 268 ; fond of children, 283 ; kind tc 
 the aged, 283 ; speaks with power to Zion's 
 Camp, 284 ; how Joseph Smith traveled in 
 Zion's Camp, 285 ; speaks to Zion's Camp, 
 289 ; foretells destructions in last days, 289 ; 
 Joseph Smith bids Capt. Lawn farewell, 
 334 ; Joseph Smith in Zion's Camp, 280 ; 
 scourge of cholera prophesized by, 353 ; 
 prophecy of rights by, 359. 
 
 Snow, Eliza R., tells of greatness of Joseph 
 Smith, 12; was an angel of mercy, 47; 
 writes poem on martyrdom, 224. 
 
 Snow, Erastus, tells of exodus, 135. 
 
 Spencer, Samuel G., visits Rev. Williams, the 
 murderer, 314. 
 
 Standing, Elder Joseph, fate of murderers of, 
 335. 
 
 Steed, Matilda C. G., records fate of a mobo- 
 crat, 311. 
 
 Steed, Thomas, witnessed fate of mobocrats 
 on plains, 332. 
 
 Sterrett, Wm. G., affidavit of, 98. 
 
INDEX 
 
 365 
 
 Stevenson, Edw., describes Liberty Jail, 106; 
 
 tells of fate of Geo. M. Hinkle, 323. 
 Stoddard, Chas. Henry, tells of conspiracy, 
 
 81, 83. 
 
 Taylor, John, tells of greatness of Joseph 
 Smith, 12 ; writes "The Seer", 29 ; searches 
 for the prophet, 44 ; describes martyrdom 
 of Joseph Smith, 167 ; sings song in Carth- 
 age Jail, 197 ; feelings of, when Joseph 
 Smith was killed, 203 ; issues instructions 
 to saints, 234 ; prophecy by, 356. 
 
 Thompson, Mercy R., sees prophet for last 
 time, 159. 
 
 Traitors, advised prophet to return, 149. 
 
 Trial of murderers planned, 272 ; report of 
 trial of murderers, 274. 
 
 Tripp, E. B., tells of end of G. M. Hinkle, 
 326. 
 
 Tullidge, Edw. W., writes of exodus to the 
 west, 120 ; testifies of light from heaven, 
 228 ; tells of location of the Twelve at 
 martyrdom, 256. 
 
 Tyler, Daniel, meets a mobocrat, 301. 
 
 Utah, a mobocrat comes to, 290. 
 
 Verdict, comments on trial of murderers by 
 Orson F. Whitney, 275 ; coroner's v. on 
 death of the martyrs, 276 ; v. as given in 
 all ages, 277. 
 
 Warren, Calvin A., is counsel for murderers, 
 
 274. 
 Wentworth, John, letter to, 10. 
 Whitmer, David, tells of greatness of Joseph 
 
 Smith, 15. 
 Whitney, Helen Mar, testifies of exodus, 144. 
 Widtsoe, John A., tells of greatness of Joseph 
 
 Smith, 22. 
 Wight, Lyman, says Joseph Smith would not 
 
 live to see forty years, 45 ; organizes for 
 
 Zion's Camp, 281. 
 
 Williams, Levi, is challenged by John Taylor, 
 
 51 ; S. G. Spencer visits, 315 ; died with 
 
 respect of no one, 323. 
 Williams, Electa C, sorrow of, at time of 
 
 martyrdom, 265. 
 Wilson, Harmon T., persecutes Joseph Smith, 
 
 37. 
 Winters, Alonzo, writes of fate of mobocrats, 
 
 321. 
 Woodruff, Wilford, tells of greatness of 
 
 Joseph Smith, 16 ; sees prophet for last 
 
 time, 150, 158; weeps over death of the 
 
 prophet, 255. 
 
 Young, Brigham, tells of greatness of Joseph 
 Smith, 13; transfiguration of, 28; is suc- 
 cessor to Joseph Smith, 140 ; says Almighty 
 directed exodus, 141 ; says Joseph Smith 
 planned exodus, 142 ; names Ensign Peak, 
 143 ; feelings of Brigham Young on leaving 
 Nauvoo, 143 ; would have prevented massa- 
 cre of Joseph Smith, 143 ; says Joseph 
 Smith longed to be in the Rocky Moun- 
 tains, 148 ; receives letter from Joseph 
 Smith to return, 162 ; says Joseph Smith 
 had suffered enough, 237 ; weeps over death 
 of Joseph Smith, 255 ; hears Gov. Boggs' 
 exterminating order, 320 ; says every state 
 in union represented in mob, 271 ; says 
 leading men of nation took part in the 
 martyrdom, 327 ; fate of mobocrats on the 
 plains, 328 ; predicts end of James Buchanan, 
 341 ; prophecy by, 356. 
 
 Young, John R., sees mobocrat buried in ocean, 
 317. 
 
 Young, Seymour B., tells of Haun's Mill, 
 massacre, 61. 
 
 Zion's Camp, members of, 281 ; how camped, 
 283 ; journey through hostile country, 284 ; 
 devotional services in, 284 ; individual labors 
 in, 285 ; why camp was organized, 286 ; is 
 visited by mobocrats, 286 ; storms saves 
 camp from slaughter, 287 ; disbanding of, 
 291. 
 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 
 298F268 C001 
 
 THE FATE OF THE PERSECUTORS OF THE PROPH 
 
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