Wanna see something cool? Look at this:
To see a bigger version: Click here.
Gigantic version: Click here.
This was created just 6 years after the death of Joseph Smith, and represents the scene in the Carthage Jail courtyard after the prophet was murdered. I hadn’t seen it before I did some digging to learn more about the martyrdom.
It is a lithograph that was drawn back in 1850 by G.W. Fasel, and Charles C. Grehen, printed by Nagel & Weingaertner. (Back then, the printer’s skill was as important as the artist’s.) It is entitled “Martyrdom of Joseph & Hiram Smith in Carthage Jail, June, 27, 1844.”
The details of the gigantic version are fascinating. Note the blood on the windowsill, the mobster’s black-painted face, etc.
What caught my eye was the man in the black suit with the hat, who is stopping the mobster from mutilating the prophet. Who was he?
Anyone?
I searched, but couldn’t find anything. The best I could find was the idea that the man in black represents a sort of divine intervention that prevented the man with the knife from decapitating Joseph. There are several contemporary accounts of the martydom that talk about pillars of light, lightning, thunder, etc. upon the death of the prophet.
If any of you have a better answer – please share!
Here is another interesting piece of art based on an account of the martyrdom. I won’t vouch for the accuracy, but it is interesting.
This fascinating account was written by a man named William Daniels – who was a member of the actual mob at Carthage. It was published in the Nauvoo newspaper in May of 1845. It is of questionable accuracy, but he paints a very vivid picture of the martyrdom – in his story Joseph survives the fall from the upper window, and is then executed. At that time, one of the mob attempts to behead him, but is stopped by a “pillar of light.”
Daniel’s account did complicate the prosecution of the murderers, because it conflicted with Willard Richard’s account of what happened inside the jail. But it is curious to note that Daniels converted to the Church after the martyrdom.
Here is the link to his account (Read with a fair amount of skepticism): An Eyewitness Account of the Murders of Joseph and Hyrum Smith
There is lots of incredible stuff out there, but the most important thing to learn about what these pictures show, is that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God.
Praise to the Man.
So, there you go. I hope you are reaffirmed in your knowledge that you never know what you are going to get when you read my blog.
This is an old thread, but I came across it looking for pictures of Joseph Smith for a project and thought I’d chime in. Jacob Hofheins, bodyguard to Joseph Smith, left this account of what happened to his posterity. I’ve copied and pasted the text here. (I did not fix spelling) I hope this helps, I only came across it this summer myself.
“STATEMENT OF MRS. ELIZA MORGAN
My father Jacob Hofheins was born on December 4, 1812, in Baden, Germany. He emigrated to America in 1830 and joined the Mormon Church in 1835. He was a bodyguard of the Prophet Joseph Smith in the days of Nauvoo, and was present at the martyrdom of the Prophet at Carthage, Illinois. I have heard him speak many times of the cruelty of the mobbers and have heard him state manu times of the light that struck the fiend who raised his arm to cut off the head of the Prophet, the fiend’s hand was paralyzed and fell to his side. He saw the Prophet as he fell or leaped from the window of the Carthage jail and saw the mob set him against the well. -My father stated emphatically and positively that he saw this. In 1846 he joined the Mormon Battalion. He witnessed the great mourning by the entire people, men, women and children, in Nauvoo, at the death of the Prophet Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith his brother.
To all of the above statements, I solemnly testify I heard my father relate to me.
Signed : Mrs. Eliza Morgan Signed in the presence of :
Mrs. Nina Garrett Morgan N. B. Lundwall at Levan, Utah, this 30th day of July, 1951.
At BYU, in one of my classes on how to (and how not to) write history, we were required to read “The Fate of the Persecutors of the Prophet Joseph Smith” by N.B. Lundwall. The basic premise was that they all went on to live miserable, short lives. Then we read “Carthage Conspiracy: The Trial of the Accused Assassins of Joseph Smith” by Dallin H. Oaks and Marvin S. Hill. The second book debunked many of the myths perpetrated in the first (and was a good read, I remember).
As for what is depicted in the pictures above, I can’t remember what was said about it. Maybe it’s time to read “Carthage Conspiracy” again!
I’ve always heard that someone in the crowd shouted “here come the Mormons”, at the time they were beginning to mutilate his remains, and the crowd fled. That is heresay, tho’
This is the coolest ever! Love this stuff. Where did you find it?
I too was fascinated the first time I saw the painting/lithograph, I wouldn’t doubt something heavenly happened after the Prophet was killed. Here is a 1974 Ensign article entitled “Teenage Witness to the Martyrdom” where a “sheet of lightning” is mentioned.
http://www.lds.org/ensign/1974/06/mormon-journal/teenage-witness-to-the-martyrdom?lang=eng&query=martyr
Also here is a link to one of the better websites I’ve seen that talks about the martyrdom itself if anyone is interested.
http://woodlandinstitute.com/joseph/martyrdom.php
AuntSue
Thank you – these are all fascinating. And if eyewitnesses agree, it is a good bet that they have collaborated on a story in advance. I love that your blog surprises, delights and causes me to think.
This is fascinating, it’s amazing what you can find when you start looking. Thank you for sharing . . . this is a treasure!
Kristin
It certainly is interesting. It makes me want to go see what I can dig up or call my sis-in-law that works at the Church History Library to see what she could dig up for me. It makes me wonder if the fellow that recorded his experience was more open to spiritual matters and therefor able to recognize a spiritual moment, even if he was not yet prepared fully to understand it or to know how to express it. Guess it’s one of those things that make you go “Hmmm.” But you are right – it surely reaffirms that I never know what I shall find on your blog, as well as that it will be enjoyable whatever it is that I find here. 🙂
I’ve never even heard about anything like this. I’ll be interested to see if anyone knows any more, but it seems very few are commenting, so maybe not. Since there seems to be multiple accounts that say something happened (just from what you’ve said above, I haven’t gone and looked for them), but they don’t agree, I take it as a good bet that something DID happen but the mob was unprepared to understand it and so processed/remembered/interpreted it in various ways.
I agree. And I also hope everyone does follow my advice to read with a fair amount of skepticism.
It could very well have been that it WAS represented to different individuals in different ways. There’s nothing that says that they all had to see or hear the same things. That said, this is something I’ve never come across in my studies of Church history, though that doesn’t necessarily mean anything.
That part about someone attempting to behead the Prophet but being stopped sounds familiar, but I don’t know the source. I hope one of your other smart and good-looking readers can shed some light on it.