April 25, 2015 - Saturday

We woke up to a heavy rain storm and the beautiful sound of that rain falling on the roof.  By the time we finished our morning devotional and had cleaned the jail, the rain had stopped so that we could take a nice morning walk.  Look at how nice the brick pavers looked this morning;

Also, this is a picture of mom and Elder and Sister Shepherd getting ready for our prayer meeting at the Visitors Center.  What a great place to be!

I thought that you might be interested to see this reflection that we rarely but sometimes see on a cludy and rainy day.  The conditions were perfect for this picture in the Visitors Center;

To be reflected in the window of the lower room, which is the dining room, of the Carthage jail;

The distance between the Visitors Center picture and the window of the jail is about 60' to 75' away and gives such a special view of Joseph seeming to be looking out from the dining room window into the Visitors Center.

Tonight, I wanted to briefly tell my grandchildren of the special relationship Joseph had with Hyrum.  We discussed Samuel last night, so I wanted to share some thoughts and feelings I have had and have gained from the tours I have given and the times I have pondered in the Martyrdom room about Joseph and Hyrum.  I have gathered this information from my readings and have noted the sources below;

The Saints in Nauvoo Are Persecuted

By 1844 the Saints had built Nauvoo into a large and prosperous city in Illinois, and more members of the Church were moving to Nauvoo each day. Many non–Latter-day Saints in Illinois were afraid of the potential economic and political power of so many members of the Church. They began to persecute the Saints.

Some enemies of the Church believed that if they got rid of Joseph Smith, the Church would fall apart. These men started a newspaper in which they told many vicious lies about Joseph Smith. The members of the Church were angry about these lies. Joseph Smith, who was mayor of Nauvoo at the time, called a meeting of the city council, which was composed of both Church members and nonmembers. The city council declared the newspaper a “public nuisance” and ordered the town marshal to destroy the printing press used to print the newspaper.

The enemies of the Church used this event to justify even more persecution of the Saints and the Prophet. The governor of Illinois, Thomas Ford, urged Joseph Smith and the other members of the city council to come to Carthage, Illinois, to stand trial for the destruction of the press. The governor promised that the men would be safe. Joseph wrote the governor that he felt their lives would be in danger if they went to Carthage. Joseph did not think a fair trial was possible, and he doubted that the governor could protect them as promised.

Believing that they were the only ones wanted by the enemies of the Church, Joseph and Hyrum went into hiding and made plans to move west with their families. But when a posse from Carthage came to Nauvoo, they threatened to take over the city if Joseph and Hyrum were not found. Some of the Saints were afraid of the posse and called Joseph and Hyrum cowards for leaving Nauvoo. When Joseph heard this he was sad, and he said, “If my life is of no value to my friends it is of none to me.” Joseph asked Hyrum what they should do, and Hyrum responded, “Let us go back and give ourselves up, and see the thing out” (History of the Church, 6:549).

Joseph knew that if they went back they would be killed, but he told other Church leaders: “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 toward 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 was murdered in cold blood!’” (History of the Church, 6:555; see also D&C 135:4).

Joseph and Hyrum Smith Are Murdered

Joseph and Hyrum went to Carthage, and on 25 June 1844 they were falsely accused of rioting and treason (working against the government). They and several of their friends were put in the Carthage Jail, where mobs threatened and cursed them. In jail the brethren prayed and read the Book of Mormon. The Prophet bore his testimony of the truth of the gospel to the men guarding them.

Dan Jones was one of the brethren in jail with the Prophet. On the morning of 27 June 1844 one of the prison guards told him:

“We have had too much trouble to bring Old Joe here to let him ever escape alive, and unless you want to die with him you had better leave before sundown; … and you’ll see that I can prophesy better than Old Joe, for neither he nor his brother, nor anyone who will remain with them will see the sun set today” (History of the Church, 6:602).

Dan Jones reported this threat to Governor Ford, but the governor replied, “You are unnecessarily alarmed for the safety of your friends, sir, the people are not that cruel” (History of the Church, 6:603). Then the governor left Carthage, leaving some of the Prophet’s worst enemies in charge of the jail. That day most of the Prophet’s friends were ordered to leave the jail.

Only four men remained in Carthage Jail: the Prophet Joseph Smith; his brother Hyrum; and John Taylor and Willard Richards, two of the Apostles. These four men had two guns that had been given to them by friends who visited them. Elder Taylor and Elder Richards also had walking canes.

Because the governor had left Carthage and had put some members of the mob in charge of the jail, the four men knew their lives were in danger. That morning Joseph had written a letter to his family telling them that he loved them and that he was innocent. In the letter he also pronounced a blessing on his family and friends. In the afternoon John Taylor sang “A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief” (Hymns, no. 29). This beautiful song about the Savior comforted the men greatly, and the Prophet asked Elder Taylor to sing it again.

Around five o’clock in the evening a mob of about one hundred men attacked the jail. Many of the men had blackened their faces with mud and gunpowder so they would not be recognized.The guards at the jail were friends of the mobbers and made no serious attempt to stop the attack. Some members of the mob shot at the windows of the jail, and others ran up the stairs to shoot into the room where the Church leaders were.

The brethren tried to bar the door shut and use their few weapons to drive off the mob. Joseph Smith fired a pistol and John Taylor used his heavy cane to try to knock down the guns of the mob as they were pushed into the room through the door, but there were too many people in the mob for the brethren to defend themselves.

Hyrum Smith was shot in the face by a bullet fired through the door. He fell to the floor, crying out, “I am a dead man!” As he fell he was hit by three other bullets. Joseph cried out, “Oh dear, brother Hyrum!” (History of the Church, 6:618).

John Taylor moved toward the open window, hoping to jump to safety. A bullet fired from inside the jail hit his leg and he started to fall out the window, but a second bullet from outside the jail hit his pocket watch with such force that it pushed him back into the room, saving his life. Elder Taylor was hit with three more bullets as he crawled under the bed.

After Hyrum and John Taylor were shot, the Prophet moved to the window. He was hit by two bullets fired from the doorway of the room and a third bullet fired from outside the jail. He cried, “Oh Lord, my God!” and fell out the window (History of the Church, 6:618).

The mob inside the jail ran out to see the Prophet’s body, and Willard Richards hurried to the window. After seeing the Prophet’s lifeless body, Elder Richards ran for the door. He stopped when he heard John Taylor cry out from under the bed. He knew he would not be able to carry Elder Taylor out right away, so he hid him under an old mattress, saying, “If your wounds are not fatal, I want you to live to tell the story” (History of the Church, 6:621). Elder Richards expected to be shot as he left the jail, but before the mob could make sure they had killed all four men, someone mistakenly shouted, “The Mormons are coming!” and the mob members fled into the woods.

Elder Richards had not been injured in the attack. This miracle fulfilled a prophecy made a year earlier by Joseph Smith, who had told Elder Richards that there would be a time when “the balls [bullets] would fly around him like hail, and he should see his friends fall on the right and on the left,” but he would not be hurt (History of the Church, 6:619).

The Prophet’s brother Samuel was on his way to Carthage to help his brothers. He was chased by members of the mob along the way, and he arrived, exhausted, to find that his brothers had been murdered. He helped move his brothers’ bodies to an inn in Carthage. Tired and weak from his trip to Carthage, Samuel developed a bad fever, and he died the next month.

The bodies of Joseph and Hyrum were carried back to Nauvoo in wagons and laid out in the Mansion House. The next day, ten thousand Saints waited in line to walk past the caskets and pay their respects. The Saints grieved over the loss of the Prophet and his brother.

Lucy Mack Smith wrote of seeing her martyred sons:

“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 … 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’” (Lucy Mack Smith, History of Joseph Smith, p. 324).

Doctrine and Covenants 135 contains an account of the martyrdom written by Elder John Taylor, who was wounded in the attack that killed Joseph and Hyrum. Elder Taylor said Joseph Smith “lived great, and he died great in the eyes of God and his people; and like most of the Lord’s anointed in ancient times, has sealed his mission and his works with his own blood; and so has his brother Hyrum. In life they were not divided, and in death they were not separated!” (D&C 135:3).

Before the Prophet’s father died, he had given Joseph a blessing and told him, “You shall even live to finish your work. … You shall live to lay out the plan of all the work which God has given you to do” (quoted in Smith, pp. 309–10). Joseph Smith valiantly completed his mission, doing all God asked him to do.

ets [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1975], pp. 96–97.)

Thinking about Joseph and Hyrum it occurred to me that they had an age difference like my grandsons Bobby and his brother Johnny, and Cody and his brother Landon.  Bobby and Cody are the oldest by about 5 years and Hyrum was older than Joseph by about 5 years.  Now here is the interesting part, Hyrum believed Joseph from the very beginning and supported his brother the rest of his life in the work of the Restoration.  I can picture Bobby and Cody doing the same thing for their brothers Johnny and Landon, and I know that as Bobby and Cody think about their brothers, like Hyrum thought about Joseph, they will be best friends all of their mortal lives and into and throughout the eternities.

As I have studied and have pondered in this Martyrdom room with this door closed, I can picture Hyrum and Joseph side-by-side holding the door closed.  You see, they were in the bedroom of the jailer George Stigall where he suggested Joseph and Hyrum go on the evening of June 26, 1844, for additional protection.  The room was more comfortable and he probably felt would be safer.  Since the door did not lock, and with the afternoon of June 27, 1844, being hot and humid, that door was probably open along with the three bedroom windows just for air circulation.  When the mob rushed the stairway, I picture Joseph and Hyrum and Willard Richards and John Taylor shutting the door and leaning heavily on it.  Hyrum was on the side closest to the door knob and Joseph was right next to him.  Willard and John were on either side.  Take a look at the angle they had to be pushing from where they were both leaning forward.  Hyrum was hit in the face on the left side of his nose with the second ball, about a 55 to 60 caliber shot, and both brothers locking eyes and knowing that this would be the final time they would see each other alive.  And then the murders were completed and both men were gone.  They sealed their testimonies during these moments with their blood.

Now, it is important to note that Joseph knew he would have to seal his testimony with his blood.  He didn't want Hyrum to come with him, but Hyrum was not about to leave his brother alone.  They had both been together after that 1st glorious vision,and Hyrum saw, first hand, the growth that Joseph experienced as he was taught and tutored, and prepared to participate, as the Lord's anointed, to be an instrument in the  restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  They experienced the most wonderful highs together and were companions during the most viscous oppositions and persecutions over that 24 year period from the Spring of 1820 until that summer day in June 1844.  Section 135 explains this moment completely;  He, (Joseph), lived great, and he died great in the eyes of God and his people; and like most of the Lord’s anointed in ancient times, has sealed his mission and his works with his own blood; and so has his brother Hyrum. In life they were not divided, and in death they were not separated!  

It is an amazing story that gives me such a debt of gratitude to them for their lives, their examples as brothers and as Church Leaders.That gives me a whole new meaning to the testimony borne on a Fast Sunday, when someone says to the effect, "I am grateful for the Prophet Joseph Smith".  After being in this room, that testimony is magnified.

Thank you for joining with me tonight!  I appreciate your posted comments, your emails, your love and your support!