The Martyrdom

On the humid Thursday of June 27, 1844, around 5:00 PM, Joseph, Hyrum, Willard, and John were sitting in the second floor bedroom, while Joseph was writing his final note to Emma. Meanwhile, John is on the bed singing a favorite song on Joseph, "A Poor Wayfaring Man if Grief." At about 5:14, a mob of over 200 men, with blackened faces, attacked Carthage Jail. They stormed upstairs, passing guards. The guards had been changed only an hour before, and they had all been in on the attack. The first mobster up the stairs was met by the fist of Joseph. The 4 men leaped to the door, attempting to block the assassins. On the road to Carthage, Joseph pleaded with Hyrum 3 times for Hyrum to return to Nauvoo. But Hyrum said, "Joseph, I can not leave you." And it turns out that Hyrum was the first to die in the attack. He was shot through the door, to the left of his nose, going almost all the way through his head. He fell shouting "I am a dead man!" Joseph, noting Hyrum's remorse, came to his aid, leaned over him yelling "Oh dear, brother Hyrum!" John Taylor stated that the sorrowful face that Joseph had was forever imprinted in his mind. Joseph then returned to the door with his six-shooter called the pepper box. He fired six times, which only fires 3 times. He wounds an assailant. John then attempted to jump out the window, but was delayed when a bullet entered his right hip. Mobsters from the ground were also shooting through the window from the ground. A bullet destined for John entered his pocket watch. The force from the bullet knocked him off balance, forcing him back into the room. He was then shot in the left wrist, and then in the left knee. The force from those bullets made him role under the bed. He then was shot in the hip. The floor and the wall was splattered with blood. Joseph, after emptying his gun, CALMLY walked to the middle of the room, and dropped his pistol neer Hyrum's body. He then ran toward the window, and some people say that they heard him yell, "Oh Lord, what shall I do?" He was shot twice from the window, and another time from the door, which added to the force that had to be used to get through the window. Joseph then crashed through the window, and fell to the ground neer the well.Joseph and Hyrum Smith, have been martyred. Willard then took the extremely wounded John into the jail cell, put a couple thick blankets on him, and then covered him with hay to stop the bleeding. He also couldn't relax because he kept waiting for more people to come in and kill them. He said something around,"John, if I die, I want you to be able to live to tell the tale." The next day, their bodies was were gently placed in wagons, covered with branches to shade them from the sun, driven by Willard Richards.
In the same week, Brigham Young was in Boston in the theater above. He was working on Joseph's campaign for the 1844 election against James Polk. He later received a letter from Elder Richards, saying "Joseph and Hyrum are dead." He wept for several hours.
A few hours after the martyrdom, molds of Joseph and Hyrum's faces were made. These same masks are in the Church History Museum. These are perfect copies of Joseph and Hyrum's faces at the time. The masks, however, are slowly falling apart. That's why tiny plastic strings are holding it together. Also, Hyrum's chin had already fallen apart, so it was redone. A copy of both of their masks were made, from which the drawing at the beginning of the blog is baced. Joseph, Hyrum, and Emma's remains are in these granite coffins outside the Joseph Smith Brick Store. Joseph's parents are also buried there, along with Joseph's sons and grandchildren.