History of the Prophet Joseph, by His MotherSmith, Lucy
History
History of the Prophet Joseph, by His Mother
Smith, Lucy
Smith, Joseph, Jr., 1805-1844
I shall now return to the month of September, 1831. Joseph, at this
time, was engaged in translating the Bible, and Sidney Rigdon was
writing for him. About the first of this month, Joseph came to the
conclusion to remove himself and clerk, as well as their families, to
the before-mentioned town of Hiram, in order to expedite the work. They
moved to the house of Father John Johnson, and lived with him in peace
until the following March, when a circumstance occurred, which I shall
relate in his own words:
On the twenty-fifth of March, (1832,) the twins before mentioned,
which had been sick of the measles for some time, caused us to be
broke of our rest in taking care of them, especially my wife. In
the evening, I told her she had better retire to rest with one of
the children, and I would watch with the sickest child. In the
night, she told me I had better lie down on the trundle bed, and
I did so, and was soon after awakened by her screaming murder!
When I found myself going out of the door in the hands of about
a dozen men; some of whose hands were in my hair, and some hold
of my shirt, drawers, and limbs. The foot of the trundle bed was
towards the door, leaving only room enough for the door to swing.
My wife heard a gentle tapping on the windows, which she then took
no particular notice of (but which was unquestionably designed for
ascertaining whether we were all asleep), and, soon after, the mob
burst open the door and surrounded the bed in an instant, and, as I
said, the first I knew, I was going out of the door, in the hands
of an infuriated mob. I made a desperate struggle, as I was forced
out, to extricate myself, but only cleared one leg, with which
I made a pass at one man, and he fell on the door steps. I was
immediately confined again, and they swore by God they would kill
me if I did not be still, which quieted me. As they passed around
the house with me, the fellow that I kicked, came to me and thrust
his hand into my face all covered with blood, (for I hit him on the
nose,) and with an exultant horse laugh, muttered "ge, gee, God
d--mn ye, I'll fix ye."
They then seized me by the throat, and held on till I lost my
breath. After I came to, as they passed along with me, about thirty
rods from the house, I saw Elder Rigdon stretched out on the
ground, whither they had dragged him by the heels. I supposed he
was dead.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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