The Latter-Day Prophet: History of Joseph Smith Written for Young People

by George Q. Cannon

When they went back to prison that night, Hyrum, who seemed far more hopeful than Joseph, read from the Book of Mormon comforting passages that told how God in marvelous ways had delivered His servants. The Prophet then bore his testimony in great power to the guards concerning the truth of the Gospel, and late at night the prisoners lay down to sleep. After a time Joseph whispered to Dan Jones who was lying beside him, "Are you afraid to die?" and Brother Jones replied. "Has that time come, think you? Engaged in such a cause, I do not think that death would have many terrors." Then the Prophet whispered, "You will yet see Wales and fulfill the mission appointed you, before you die." Next morning Brother Jones left the prison to learn the cause of a disorder outside during the night. Frank Worrel, one of the Carthage Greys, said:

"We have had too much trouble to bring old Joe here to let him escape alive, and unless you want to die with him, you had better leave before sundown; and you are not a damned bit better than him for taking his part, and you'll see that I can prophesy better than old Joe, for neither he nor his brother, nor anyone else who will remain with them, will see the sun set today."

As Brother Jones went on he learned positively that the Carthage Greys and others of the mob intended to kill the prisoners that day. He hurried to the governor and found that Ford had decided to go to Nauvoo, taking the best troops with him and leaving the prisoners in the hands of the mob. He would not listen to what Brother Jones said, and even refused to allow any of the Prophet's friends who were outside the jail to go back, nor Apostles Taylor and Richards, who were inside, to come out. Brother Jones went away and soon returned with Cyrus H. Wheelock and John P. Greene. They urged the governor to remember his promise and not to leave those whom he had pledged the honor of the state to protect, to be murdered in cold blood; but Ford was too great a coward to disappoint the mob. He set out for Nauvoo.

Perhaps the governor did not know for certain that the plot was to kill the prisoners during his absence, and yet he knew the danger they were in, for he said in his speech to the Saints:

"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."

This was the afternoon, and as he spoke, a cannon in the distance was heard. One of his aids whispered something in his ear and immediately the governor with his officers and the troops rode away as though in fear. It was probably the cannon fired near Carthage as a signal that the mob had been successful in its foul work. While at Nauvoo during the day, Ford and his friends had gone into the Temple and some amused themselves by breaking the horns off the oxen that held up the baptismal font, and the officers were heard to say time after time that the Prophet would die that day.

CHAPTER XL.

1844.

THE PRISONERS IN CARTHAGE JAIL—SURROUNDED BY A MOB WITH PAINTED FACES—THE MARTYRDOM—THE RETURN TO NAUVOO—FUNERAL AND BURIAL—CONCLUSION.

When Governor Ford left Carthage on the morning of the twenty-seventh of June, taking with him the friendly troops of Captain Dunn, he disbanded all but the Carthage Greys, and left them to guard the prison. Two hundred of the disbanded soldiers, with blackened faces came to make the attack. When all was ready, the eight men at the door of the jail loaded their muskets with blank cartridges and waited.