"MY DEAR HUSBAND:
"Nauvoo was never so lonesome since we lived here as it is now. I went to meeting last Sunday for the first time since conference. Neither Joseph, nor Hyrum, nor any of the Twelve were there, and you may be assured that I was glad when meeting was over. * * *
"June 11th. Nauvoo was a scene of excitement last night. Some hundreds of the brethren turned out and burned the press of the opposite party. This was done by order of the city council. They had only published one paper (Nauvoo Expositor) which is considered a public nuisance. They have sworn vengeance and no doubt they will have it.
"June 24th. Since I commenced this letter, varied and exciting indeed have been the scenes in this city. I would have sent this to you before this time, but I have been thrown into such confusion I know not what to write. Nor is this all: the mails do not come regularly, having been stopped by high water, or the flood of mobocracy which pervades the country. I have received no letter by mail from you since you left.
"Nothing is to be heard of but mobs collecting on every side. The Laws and Fosters and most of the dissenting party, with their families, left here a day or two since. They are sworn to have Joseph and the city council, or to exterminate us all. Between three and four thousand brethren have been under arms here the past week, expecting every day the mob would come upon us. The brethren from the country are coming in to aid in the defense of the city. Brother Joseph sent a message to the Governor, signifying if he and his staff would come into the city he would abide their decision; but instead of the Governor coming here he went to Carthage, and there walked arm and arm with Law and Foster, until we have reason to fear he has caught their spirit. He sent thirty men from there day before yesterday to arrest Brother Joseph, with an abusive letter, saying, if thirty men cannot do the business thousands can, ordering the brethren who had been ordered out to defend the city against the mob to deliver up their arms to their men and then disperse.
"Yesterday morning (although it was Sunday) was a time of great excitement. Joseph had fled and left word for the brethren to hang on to their arms and defend themselves as best they could. Some were dreadfully tried in their faith to think Joseph should leave them in the hour of danger. Hundreds have left; the most of the merchants on the hill have gone. I have not felt frightened, neither has my heart sunk within me till yesterday, when I heard Joseph had sent word back for his family to follow him, and Brother Whitney's family were packing up, not knowing but they would have to go, as he is one of the city council. For a while I felt sad enough, but did not let anybody know it, neither did I shed any tears. I felt a confidence in the Lord that He would preserve us from the ravages of our enemies. We expected them here to-day by the thousands, but before night yesterday, things put on a different aspect—Joseph returned and gave himself up for trial. He sent a messenger to Carthage to tell the governor he would meet him and his staff at the big mound at eight o'clock this morning, with all that the writ demanded. They have just passed here to meet the Governor for that purpose. My heart said, 'Lord, bless those dear men and preserve them from those that thirst for their blood!' What will be their fate the Lord only knows, but I trust He'll spare them. The governor wrote that if they did not give themselves up, our city was suspended upon so many kegs of powder, and it needed only one spark to touch them off. If you were here you would be sure to be in their midst, which would increase my anxiety."
Now fell the thunderbolt!
On the 20th of June Joseph, feeling himself hedged around by his enemies, had written for the immediate return of the Apostles. It was his last communication to them in mortality. Seven days later, on the evening of the 27th of June, 1844, Joseph and his brother Hyrum were assassinated in Carthage Jail.
Heber and Lyman Wight were in Salem, Massachusetts, when the dreadful news came. It struck Heber to the heart. He tried hard not to believe. Yet he, and the Apostles generally, traveling in different parts, on the night of the assassination had felt a severe mental shock, for which they could not account until the terrible news reached their ears.
Grief-stricken and almost crushed with sorrow, the Twelve turned their sad steps homeward. Heber and Lyman took the cars for Boston, where they remained during the day, and then proceeded to New York. Returning to Boston to consult with their quorum, on the 24th of July in company with President Brigham Young they set out for home. At Albany they were joined by Orson Hyde, Orson Pratt and Wilford Woodruff. They traveled night and day, and arrived at Nauvoo on the 6th of August, forty days after the martyrdom.