Jones then returned to the prison, but the guards drove him away. Going to the hotel he witnessed the discharge of the troops, as the officer had predicted, and shortly afterwards Governor Ford with the McDonough militia, the most friendly to the Saints, departed for Nauvoo, leaving the Carthage Greys, the most blood-thirsty of the troops, to guard the jail. The plot was working admirably without a hitch in the proceedings.
“A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief”
John S. Fullmer and Stephen Markham, who had gone forth on errands, were also refused admittance again to the jail, while John Taylor and Willard Richards remained with their leaders. The day passed on, the prisoners and their two friends spent the time in bearing testimony to the truth of the Gospel, the divinity of the Book of Mormon, and in writing to their friends. Almon W. Babbitt called at the jail in the forenoon with a letter from Oliver Cowdery. Shortly after three o’clock there was excitement among the guards.
At this hour Elder John Taylor sang the hymn “A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief.” When he had finished, the Prophet asked him to sing it through once more, which he did. At four o’clock the guard was changed. At five o’clock the jailer, Mr. Stigall, suggested that the prisoners retire to the cell below, where they would be safer.
The Martyrdom
Shortly after five o’clock there was a rustling at the outer door of the jail and a cry of surrender, and the discharge of three or four firearms. Dr. Richards glanced out of the window and saw about one hundred armed men around the door. Many of them had their faces blackened. It is said the guard elevated their guns and boisterously threatened the mob, but took good care to fire over their heads. The mob encircled the building and some of them rushed past the guard up the flight of stairs, burst open the door and began their work of death, while others fired through the windows. Joseph, Hyrum and Elder Taylor had their coats off. The Prophet sprang for his coat to get a six barreled pistol which Cyrus Wheelock had given him, and Hyrum reached for a single barrel pistol that had been left by John S. Fullmer. They all then braced themselves against the door, Elder Taylor armed with a heavy walking stick of Elder Markham’s and Dr. Richards with Elder Taylor’s cane. In an instant a ball whistled up the stairway, and Joseph Smith, John Taylor and Willard Richards sprang to the left of the door, and tried to knock aside the guns of the ruffians. Hyrum Smith retreated back and in front of the door, snapping his pistol, when a ball struck him on the left side of the nose. He fell on his back saying: “I am a dead man!” As he fell on the floor another ball from the outside entered his left side, and passed through his body with such force that it completely broke to pieces the watch he wore in his vest pocket. At the same instant another ball grazed his breast, entered his throat, and passed into his head, while another was fired into his leg. A shower of bullets was pouring into the room. Joseph reached around the door casing and discharged his six shooter into the passage, some barrels missing fire, while Elders Taylor and Richards continued to parry the muskets which were sticking through the door. When Hyrum fell, the Prophet said: “Oh, dear brother Hyrum!” Seeing there was no safety in the room, and without doubt thinking to spare his other companions, he turned calmly from the door, dropped his pistol on the floor, and sprang into the window. Two balls pierced him from the door, and one entered his right breast from without. He fell outward into the hands of his murderers, exclaiming: “O Lord, my God!” With a cry that he had jumped from the window, the assassins who were in the building rushed down the stairs. Elder Taylor was also severely wounded; four balls piercing his body, one ball struck his watch as he attempted to jump from the window, throwing him back into the room.
When the ruffians left the building, Elder Richards who had miraculously escaped, except that a ball grazed his ear, started for the door. Elder Taylor called to him; he returned and carried the wounded man upstairs into the “dungeon” and stretched him on the floor. Covering him with a bed, he said: “This is a hard case to lay you on the floor, but if your wounds are not fatal, I want you to live to tell the story.” He then returned to the room below, expecting the next moment to be shot.
Terror of the Mob
After accomplishing their deed of blood, terror seized the hearts of the assassins who fled from the scene of their diabolical crime in utmost confusion. Governor Ford, three miles out of Nauvoo, on his way to Carthage, met George D. Grant and Constable Bettisworth hastening to Nauvoo with the news of the martyrdom. With terror on his countenance, he carried them back to Carthage, that they might not spread the awful tale, until he should be at a distance beyond the vengeance which he feared. Arriving at Carthage, he advised the citizens to flee for their lives before the infuriated “Mormons” came to burn their town, and suiting action to his words he fled with his posse towards Quincy. Conscience-stricken and with the blood of prophets on his hands, he did not stop until he arrived at Augusta, eighteen miles away.