The Assassination of Generals Joseph and Hyrum Smith in Carthage, Hancock Co., Ill., June 27, 1844, while under the pledged protection of the Governor of the State.
The engraving presented on another page is a true representation of the jail at Carthage, Illinois, wherein Joseph Smith, revered by the “Mormon” people as a prophet of God, and his brother Hyrum were foully murdered in 1844. A sketch of the building was made by the late Robert Campbell soon after the massacre, from which the illustration accompanying this sketch was made.
The mob of eighty men, whose faces were painted black, were under the direction of the notorious Captain Williams, who is represented in the picture as standing just back of the four men who are shooting the Prophet as he is lying partially stunned against the well curb. The Captain is directing the murder, as is to be seen in the engraving. Farther to the right is Captain Smith, with his company of Carthage Greys, who were entrusted with the care and custody of the prisoners under the pledge of the Governor of the state for their safety.
In the afternoon of the day of the murder, the mob were concealed in the woods about three-quarters of a mile northwest of the jail, where they had previously marched. The front of the jail is to the south. Communication for some time was kept up between the mob and the Carthage Greys by couriers, until a perfect understanding was effected between the two mobs, for by this mutual understanding the State troops had become identified with the murder. The diabolical plot was so arranged that the troops had their guns loaded only with blank cartridges. From the situation of affairs, the disbanding of the troops at Carthage (except those treacherous Greys), and the Governor being at the same time in Nauvoo disarming the Nauvoo Legion, looks like a very deep plot for the murder of those two innocent prisoners. What makes it still more apparent that the State was guilty of this foul deed, is the fact that not one of those who were immediately connected with the murder were ever convicted, while many of them roamed at large, although well known to the community as having taken part in [p.44] the murder, some even boasting of having participated in the vile act. One man in particular, who lived in what was known as Morley’s settlement, near Carthage, openly claimed to have helped in the massacre.
While I was in St. George about two years ago I read from a record book the following:
“Mr. Meradis Perry, a near neighbor of ours, was one of the mob who killed Joseph Smith. He came home from Carthage sick and begged my father to kill him; ‘for,’ said he, ‘I can neither eat nor sleep. When I close my eyes I can see Joseph Smith before me; I am a miserable man.’ My father told him that he was in the hands of the Lord, and he would deal with him as seemed good onto himself; that Joseph was a true prophet sent of God, and his blood, with that of his brother, would cry from Carthage jail against his murderers as did Able’s against his slayer. My father, James Bellows, lived near Morley’s settlement.”
The daughter of Jas. Bellows, who has the record named, vouches for the above, having seen the mobber. She says he was a miserable human being.
The mob came from the woods, entered the stairway door, crowded upstairs, and commenced pressing in the door where the prisoners were confined. They were unable to open the door for a while, when shots were fired through the door. All was commotion and confusion. A ball passing through the door pierced Hyrum Smith on the side of his nose just below the eye, when he fell prostrate on the floor, exclaiming: “I am a dead man.”
The Prophet thought that by leaping from the window of the upper story would attract the attention of the rabble and thus save the lives of his friends. Willard Richards is to be seen looking from the window of the prison upon the heart-rending scene without being able to render the Prophet of God any assistance in his dying moments.
It is possible that while the martyr was holding on to the window sill he received some of his wounds, before falling to the ground. As he reached the ground he cried out: “O Lord, my God!”