Did Joseph Smith kill any attackers at Carthage Jail? | Ep. 217

Joseph Smith was murdered by a mob while he was being held in Carthage Jail, Illinois, on June 27, 1844. Joseph did have a gun at the time of the attack, and he did fire it at his assailants. Rumors have since swirled that Joseph killed one or two attacked, but, is that actually true?

Video transcript: https://saintsunscripted.com/faith-an...

— “Joseph Smith’s death: 96-hour timeline surrounding his martyrdom,” via Church News: https://tinyurl.com/2dwxy28x
— “John Taylor's June 27, 1854, Account of the Martyrdom,” by LaJean P. Carruth & Mark L. Staker (BYU Studies): https://tinyurl.com/3tefxxf7
— “The Martyrdom of Joseph Smith and His Brother Hyrum,” by Dan Jones (intro by Ronald Dennis), via BYU Studies: https://tinyurl.com/bde9xrhb
— “William Vorhease and the Murder of Joseph Smith,” by Joseph Johnston (John Whitmer Historical Association Journal, Vol. 35, No. 1, pgs 38-61): https://tinyurl.com/mr2n59ps
— “Return to Carthage: Writing the History of Joseph Smith’s Martyrdom,” by Dean C. Jessee (Journal of Mormon History, vol. 8 [1981], pgs. 3-19): https://tinyurl.com/3k9ch97y
— “The Mormon Trials,” New York Herald, June 10, 1845 (page 2). Supposedly a reprint of an earlier article by the Missouri Republican: https://tinyurl.com/4v6n45b4
— “Joseph and Hyrum Smith’s Martyrdom,” via Mormonr.org: https://tinyurl.com/ycyy4jur
— List of primary sources regarding the martyrdom via Mormonr.org: https://tinyurl.com/2da4eu8w
— “Physical Evidence at Carthage Jail and What It Reveals about the Assassination of Joseph and Hyrum Smith,” by Joseph L. Lyon & David W. Lyon (BYU Studies): https://tinyurl.com/29zz4spw
— “Road to Martyrdom: Joseph Smith’s Last Legal Cases,” by Joseph I. Bentley (BYU Studies): https://tinyurl.com/mrxdeeku
— “Joseph Smith, a True Martyr,” by Daniel Bachman: https://tinyurl.com/2s3kh2jm
— “Was Joseph Smith a Martyr or a Murderer?” by Lance Starr (FAIR): https://tinyurl.com/53ykj2zz
— “Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt,” chapter 52 (Townsend story): https://tinyurl.com/mw8r3ts6
— “Jeremiah Willey statement, 1844 August 13,” via the Church History Catalog: https://tinyurl.com/bd7mfbbr
— An image of the pepperbox pistol Joseph likely used at Carthage: https://tinyurl.com/mr39sfrz
— “The Mormon Prophet’s Tragedy,” by John M. Hay (Atlantic Monthly, Dec. 1869 issue): https://tinyurl.com/2v8u25az

— We know more about Voras (Vorhease) than the other two injured men. This article shows he was alive and well decades after the attack: https://tinyurl.com/mr2n59ps

— Most scholars assert that Joseph fired 3 shots from his pistol (including renowned critic, Fawn Brodie). However, 25 years after Carthage, the Atlantic Monthly (linked above) reported that Joseph had actually shot four times, and injured a fourth man, who the article does not name, because he was “preparing to prove an alibi.” Some researchers (see “Carthage Conspiracy,” by Oaks and Marvin, pg. 52) believe the 4th man might have been a Mr. Allen (possibly Nathan N. Allen, see fn 22 on pg. 61), who was also indicted but also didn’t show up. We don’t know much about Mr. Allen, but I’m unaware of any specific claims that he died as a result of his wounds. His indictment and apparent “preparations to prove an alibi” (whatever that may mean in 1869) suggest he was alive. The author of the Atlantic article was only 5 years old at the time of the murders, and he gets some details quite wrong (i.e. he wrote that Joseph had “two loaded six-barrelled revolvers” at his disposal).

— Joseph and Hyrum overheard Dan Jones’ conversation with Worrell. Afterwards, Joseph asked Dan to tell the governor about the threat. Dan did so, but the governor didn’t take him seriously. When Dan returned to the jail, he was not allowed back in. Fun fact: Franklin Worrell was later killed by Porter Rockwell.

— Dean Jessee reported that Fullmer’s pockets were searched before he was allowed to enter the jail, but the single-shot pistol was in his boot.
See Pg. 7 here: https://tinyurl.com/b4fubay3

— I cited a lot of resources in this video. For links to those that are available online, see the relevant hyperlinks in the transcript of this episode on our website, SaintsUnscripted.com.

— According to Alva Matheson, [John M.?] Higbee said that Charles Fancher “was one of the mob who killed old Joe Smith and that he still had his (Smith’s) pistol, the one that he shot through the jail house door with killing one of Fancher’s friends.” This should be taken with a grain of salt, though, as it’s a late, non-first-hand source, and another report tells the story differently (a man claiming to have the gun that killed Joseph, not the gun that Joseph used to kill someone else). See pg. 60 of this JWHA article for analysis and citations: https://tinyurl.com/mr2n59ps

SUBSCRIBE:
http://saintsunscripted/subscribe

Follow the Hosts:
David:   / davidesnell