#1...this wasn't your "normal assassination." Two of the four Mormons were slipped pistols -- and they used them.
LDS Official History of the Church:
"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,' whereupon 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."
Not only that, but Hyrum Smith, who died, suffered a mysterious back wound...more on that next post.
"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 discharged. I afterwards understood that two or three were wounded by these discharges, two of whom, I am informed, died."
And: "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 firearms 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."
From two other sources, as cited by No1 Mormon Joseph Smith armed in jail :
Reporter John Hay, of the Atlantic Monthly identified three men who were shot by Joseph Smith: John Wills in the arm, William Vorhees in the shoulder, and William Gallagher in the face. Hay was a son of Charles Hay, a surgeon of the Carthage militia and apparently a member of the mob. "Smith had two loaded six-barrelled revolvers in his room. How a man on trial for capital offences came to be supplied with such luxuries is a mystery that perhaps only one man could fully have solved; and as General Deming, the Jack-Mormon sheriff, died soon after, and left no explanation of the matter, investigation is effectually baffled. But the four shots which I have chronicled, and two which had no billet, exhausted one pistol, and the enemy gave Smith no time to use the other. Severely wounded as he was, he ran to the window, which was open to receive the fresh June air, and half leaped, half fell, into the jail yard below." - John Hay, "The Mormon Prophet's Tragedy," Atlantic Monthly (December 1869) 671-678.
The same Web site says: In another conemporary account from a faithful Latter-Day Saint: "Of the three barrels discharged by Joseph, it is believed he hit three men: an Irishman named Wells-who was in the mob from his love of a brawl-in the arm; Voorhees-an oversized kid from Bear Creek known for his lack of good sense-in the shoulder; and a man named Gallagher-a Southerner from the Mississippi Bottom-in the face." "Two other men were known to get hit in the hall, one a man named Townsend from Fort Madison, Iowa Territory, who died nine months later from the arm wound that wouldn't heal, and another named Mills, who was shot in the arm." - Elder Reed Blake, 24 Hours to Martyrdom, p. 129
So as these mob members were shot down by Joseph Smith and perhaps another left standing in room, how is it that Joseph's brother, Hyrum, came to have a back wound?
From a Mormon author: "...it was found that the wound that killed Hyrum was sustained in his face while he was apparently holding the door against the mobbers. This was verified by one of the survivors, Willard Richards. Also discovered, however, was a wound in his lower back. The mystery of that wound is hard to explain if he was shot in the face and, falling backward, never moved as the survivors later testified. One report state he was shot in the back by a rifleman outside the window, but this is not a credible report since the...room is on the second floor and the door is some distance from the window. Other wounds found on his body were in front, sustained as he lay on the floor. But that back wound, after 160 years, is still a mystery." (Lds author George W. Givens, 500 More Little-Known Facts in Mormon History, Bonneville Books, 2004, p. 46)
Did Joseph Smith accidentally shoot his own brother?
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.
Just as important was the “authorization” of the mob, if not its well known motivation.
Being outsiders, it began with a diplomatic effort of sorts, in which the Smith’s endeavored to get a political alliance with the Republican party, offering to encourage “the Mormon vote” for Republicans in exchange for some degree of political protection of the Mormons by the Republicans.
At the time, however, the US had not introduced “the Australian (secret) ballot”, and the Mormon rank and file were overwhelmingly Democrat, and apparently didn’t get the message, or disobeyed.
The end result was that the Democrats, who already hated Mormons, were joined by the Republicans, who felt they had been double crossed, in essentially “authorizing” the mob to attack the Mormons.
That is, while the political parties didn’t agitate the mob, they no longer had any reason to stay the mob’s hand in its violence.
Joseph and Hyrum Smith were martyrs for God, and Joseph did more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world than any other man that lived in it.”
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Really ???
What exactly ???
“contrary to popular belief the mobsters did not suffer for their actions, and actually were respected people who went on to greater accomplishments.
“The Carthage mob members lived normal life spans, through which they prospered financially,” Marsh said. “They ran for and won political office, and generally appear to be protected and honored by their fellow citizens for their participation in the murders of Joseph and Hyrum Smith.”
So what’s your point, since the mob people didn’t suffer a curse it must have been ok for them to have killed Joseph and Hyrum Smith? You must be really pleased.
The wicked often prosper in this life.
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Yeah...Joey Smith didnt do too badly...
Brigham Young was a multi millionaire in land and money by todays standards...
“Marsh, in her paper “Respectable Assassins: A Collective Biography and Socioeconomic Study of the Carthage Mob,”...”
Don’t scholars of American history know when to use the word “prosopography”?
Liars, reprobates, flim flam men, con men, blasphemers.........are not martyrs for God. There are people shot in a gun battle just like any other thug.
THE
DOCTRINE AND COVENANTS
OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS
SECTION 135:3
Strange...
This is not QUITE the way that It's been told before:
"I have more to boast about than ever any man had. I am the only man that has ever been able to keep a whole church together since the days of Adam. A large majority of the whole have stood by me. Neither Paul, John, Peter, nor Jesus ever did it. I boast that no man ever did such a work as I."— Joseph Smith
I guess WE* had to RE-translate what JS said - similar to JS' RE-translation of the KJV Bible.
D&C 135:1 To seal the testimony of this book and the Book of Mormon, we announce the amartyrdom of Joseph Smith the Prophet, and Hyrum Smith the Patriarch.
SO... just WHO are the WE that wrote 135?
barely?
I would think that 50% is a bit more than BARELY!!
A great, but sad expose of the propensity of the mormon church to whitewash its history to make it seem pure and godly.
Joseph Smith was in jail directly because he pursued other mens’ wives and because he ruled like a tin pan dictator, running roughshod over the rights of US citizens.
He got frontier justice. He earned it.
The mormon church must whitewash every part of their history, including their horndog leader.
What is it? Heresy? Cultic? New religion? All religions in a blender?
The only thing we know is that it isn’t Christian.
And it’s sad.
ampu