The bodies of the martyrs were taken to the Mansion House and cared for by loving friends. The loved ones of the dead Prophet and Patriarch were first admitted and fell upon the dear faces and kissed them and begged for one more word of comfort.
Early the next morning the bodies were placed in coffins covered with black velvet, and the caskets were then placed in rough pine boxes. The doors were thrown open, and ten thousand people walked through the Mansion and gazed upon the martyred clay. All this time the people were in constant expectation of an attack by the mob army upon the defenseless city.
At night the house was closed and then the coffins were lifted out of the boxes and concealed in an apartment of the Mansion while bags of sand took their place in the outer caskets. A mock funeral was held; the boxes were carried in a hearse to the graveyard and there deposited in the earth with the usual ceremonies. The course seemed necessary, because the enemies of Joseph and Hyrum had taken a ghastly oath to steal the remains.
At midnight the bodies were taken in their caskets from the Mansion House by Dimick B. Huntington, Edward Hunter, William D. Huntington, William Marks, Jonathan H. Holmes, Gilbert Goldsmith, Alpheus Cutler, Lorenzo D. Wasson, Philip B. Lewis and James Emmett to the Nauvoo House, the foundation of which was then built, and they were interred in the basement. Immediately afterward, a terrific storm of rain came on accompanied by thunder and lightning. The tears of heaven obliterated all traces of the newly dug graves, and the bodies remained there in safe repose until a later time when they were removed elsewhere.
The woe of the Saints cannot be described. They were menaced with extermination. Their Prophet and Patriarch were dead. Only two of the Apostles were there, and one of these was supposed to be dying.
The enemies of truth were sure that they had now destroyed the work. And yet it lives, greater and stronger after the lapse of years! It is indestructible for it is the work of God. And knowing that it is the eternal work of God, we know that Joseph Smith, who established it, was a Prophet holy and pure.
ANECDOTES AND SAYINGS OF THE PROPHET.
"Seek ye wisdom from the best books."
"The cause of human liberty is the cause of God."
"We will never be justly charged with the sin of ingratitude."