The prisoners were placed under a strong guard and forced to remain without shelter during the night in inclement winter weather. The guard blasphemed; mocked the Savior; demanded miracles and said: “Come, Smith, show us an angel; give us one of your revelations; show us a miracle; come, there is one of your brethren in camp whom we took prisoner yesterday in his own house, and knocked his brains out with his own rifle, which we found hanging over his fire place; he lies speechless and dying;[1] speak the word and heal him, and then we will all believe; or, if you are apostles or men of God deliver yourselves, and then we will be “Mormons.”[2]
Condemned to be Shot
Thursday morning, November 1, 1838, Hyrum Smith and Amasa Lyman were brought by Col. Hinkle into the camp. That night a court martial was held, at which, besides the commanding officers of the mob-militia, Col. Hinkle, Judge Austin A. King, District Attorney Birch, and the Reverends Sashiel Woods, Bogart and several other priests, played a part. The prisoners were sentenced to be shot on the public square in Far West, Friday morning at 9 o’clock. This was, let it be said to their honor, over the protest of Generals Doniphan and Graham, and perhaps a few others. General Doniphan was given the order to carry out the execution. It was a most fortunate thing that he was selected, for he refused to obey the command. The order given him was as follows:
“Brigadier General Doniphan:
“Sir: You will take Joseph Smith and the other prisoners into the public square of Far West, and shoot them at 9 o’clock tomorrow morning.”
“Samuel D. Lucas,”
“Major General Commanding.”
General Doniphan replied to this order by saying to his superior:
“It is cold blooded murder. I will not obey your order. My brigade shall march for Liberty tomorrow morning at 8 o’clock; and if you execute these men, I will hold you responsible before an earthly tribunal, so help me God.”
“A. W. Doniphan,”
“Brigadier General.”
Although this was an act of insubordination, it frightened the criminal general and his willing aids. No charge was ever made against Doniphan, for they dared not make one.
Plundering of the Militia
Col. Hinkle, according to his agreement, marched the militia companies at Far West out of the city and grounded their arms, which were the private property of the men who held them. Then the mob force was let loose. They entered the city without restraint, on pretext of searching the homes for additional arms. They tore up floors; ruined furniture; destroyed property; whipped the men and forced them to sign deeds to their property at the point of the bayonet; and violated the chastity of women, until their victims died. About eighty men were taken prisoners and the people were ordered to leave the state, and were forbidden, under threat of death, to assemble more than three in a place. Notwithstanding all this, General Lucas reported to the governor how orderly and decorous were his troops.