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| + | #REDIRECT[[Events surrounding the death of Joseph Smith]] |
| − | =Was Joseph actually a martyr for his beliefs?=
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| − | =={{Criticism label}}==
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| − | *Critics charge that Joseph was actually a coward, and that he did not willingly die for his beliefs. They claim that he does not deserve the title of "martyr."
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| − | {{CriticalSources}}
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| − | =={{Response label}}==
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| − | ===Setting the Stage for Murder===
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| − | Non-Mormon Colonel John Hay, an American poet and statesman, recorded the day's details leading up to the murder, shedding light on the mood of the mob that infamous day. He wrote:
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| − | <blockquote>
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| − | [The mobsters] followed their leaders off on the road to Carthage, with rather vague intentions. They were annoyed at the prospect of their picnic coming so readily to a close, at losing the fun of sacking Nauvoo, at having to go home without material for a single romance... These trudged along under the fierce summer sun of the prairies towards the town where the cause of all the trouble and confusion of the last few years awaited them. | |
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| − | The farther they walked the more the idea impressed itself upon them that now was the time to finish the matter totally. The unavowed design of the leaders communicated itself magnetically to the men, until the entire company became fused into one mass of bloodthirsty energy...
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| − | ...As the avengers came in sight of the mean-looking building that held their prey, the sleeping tiger that lurks in every human heart sprang up in theirs, and they quickened their pace to a run. There was no need of orders,-no possibility of checking them now. The guards were hustled away from the door, good-naturedly resisting until they were carefully disarmed.162
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| − | Interjecting into Hay's narrative, the view from inside the jail finds the mob rushing up the stairs to the room where Joseph and his friends were. It was "at this point, Joseph sprang to his coat for his six-shooter, Hyrum for his single barrel, Taylor for Markham's large hickory cane, and Dr. Richards for Taylor's cane. All sprang against the door, the balls whistled up the stairway, and in an instant one came through the door...Joseph Smith, John Taylor and Dr. Richards sprang to the left of the door, and tried to knock aside the guns of the ruffians...Joseph, seeing there was no safety in the room, and no doubt thinking that it would save the lives of his brethren in the room if he could get out, turned calmly from the door, dropped his pistol on the floor and sprang into the window when two balls pierced him from the door, and one entered his right breast from without, and he fell outward into the hands of his murderers, exclaiming. 'O Lord, my God!'" {{ref|HoC.617}}
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| − | </blockquote>
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| − | The idea that Joseph tried to escape through the window to save the lives of Richards and Taylor is in harmony with one of the reasons he went to Carthage to begin with. {{ref|bachman.325}}
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| − | <blockquote>
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| − | The historical account reads that "Dr. Richards' escape was miraculous; he being a very large man, and in the midst of a shower of balls, yet he stood unscathed, with the exception of a ball which grazed the tip end of the lower part of his left ear. His escape fulfilled literally a prophecy which Joseph made over a year previously, that the time would come that the balls would fly around him like hail, and he should see his friends fall on the right and on the left, but that there should not be a hole in his garment." {{ref|HoC.619}}
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| − | </blockquote>
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| − | Mr. Hay continuing with his narrative writes:
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| − | <blockquote>
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| − | Joe Smith died bravely...after he half leaped, half fell, into the jail yard below. With his last dying energies he gathered himself up, and leaned in a sitting posture against the rude stone well-curb. His stricken condition, his vague wandering glances, excited no pity in the mob thirsting for his life.
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| − | <br><br>
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| − | A squad of Missourians who were standing by the fence leveled their pieces at him, and, before they could see him again for the smoke they made, Joe Smith was dead.
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| − | <br><br>
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| − | The moment the work was done, the calmness of horror succeeded the fever of fanatical rage. The assassins hurried away from the jail, and took the road to Warsaw in silence and haste. They went home at a killing pace over the wide, dusty prairie.
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| − | </blockquote>
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| − | Concluding with the official record:
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| − | <blockquote>
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| − | To seal the testimony of this book and the Book of Mormon, we announce the Martyrdom of Joseph Smith the Prophet, and Hyrum Smith the Patriarch. They were shot in Carthage jail, on the 27th of June, 1844, about 5 o'clock P.M., by an armed mob, painted black--of from 150 to 200 persons...They were innocent of any crime, as they had often been proved before, and were only confined in the jail by the conspiracy of traitors and wicked men; and their innocent blood on the floor of Carthage jail, is a broad seal affixed to 'Mormonism' that cannot be rejected by any court on earth; and their innocent blood on the escutcheon of the State of Illinois with the broken faith of the State, as pledged by the Governor, is a witness to the truth of the everlasting gospel, that all the world cannot impeach; and their innocent blood on the banner of liberty, and on the magna charta of the United States is an ambassador for the religion of Jesus Christ that will touch the heart of honest men among all nations; and their innocent blood with the innocent blood of all the martyrs under the altar that John saw, will cry unto the Lord of Hosts, till He avenges that blood on the earth. Amen. {{ref|HoC.629}}
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| − | </blockquote>
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| − | ==Related topics==
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| − | ====Does Joseph Smith qualify as a "martyr?"====
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| − | {{Detail|/Qualification as martyr|l1=Joseph's qualification as martyr}}
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| − | ====Did Joseph "defy" a warning from God to flee to the west?====
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| − | {{Detail|/Defy warning to flee to the west|l1=Did Joseph "defy" a warning from God to flee to the west?}}
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| − | ====Removal of temple garments prior to going to Carthage====
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| − | Joseph and others with him removed their garments before traveling to Carthage Jail. Why did they do this?
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| − | {{Detail|/Removed garments|l1=Why did Joseph and others with him remove their temple garments before leaving for Carthage?}}
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| − | ====Why did Joseph use a gun at Carthage Jail?====
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| − | Critics claim that Joseph could not have been a "martyr" because he had and used a gun at Carthage Jail.
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| − | {{Detail|/Joseph fired a gun|l1=Joseph fired a gun|/Hiding Joseph's gun|l2=Hiding Joseph's gun}}
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| − | ====Did Joseph want the Nauvoo Legion to rescue him?====
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| − | Some critics (most notably, Fawn Brodie) have claimed that Joseph attempted to call in the Nauvoo Legion to rescue him from Carthage Jail.
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| − | {{Detail|/Nauvoo Legion to rescue Joseph|l1=Nauvoo Legion to rescue Joseph?}}
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| − | ====Joseph's words at the window of Carthage Jail====
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| − | Joseph's words at the window of Carthage Jail bear some resemblance to a Masonic distress call.
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| − | {{Detail|/Masonic cry of distress|l1=Masonic cry of distress}}
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| − | ====Did Joseph try to escape Carthage Jail during the attack?====
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| − | {{Detail|/Leaving through window|Why did Joseph attempt to leave through the window?}}
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| − | =={{Endnotes label}}==
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| − | #{{note|HoC.617}}History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Vol. 6, 617-618.
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| − | #{{note|bachman.325}}Bachman, "Joseph Smith, a True Martyr," 325-326. Bachman concurs that Joseph's attempted escape from the window was to save the lives of his friends in the room.
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| − | #{{note|HoC.619}}History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Vol. 6, 619.
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| − | #{{note|HoC.629}}History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Vol. 6, 629-631.
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| − | [[fr:Joseph Smith/Martyrdom]]
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