But Hyrum and Joseph were both possessed of a splendid courage. There was only one thing now to do to save Nauvoo from massacre by a lawless mob. The Prophet and his brother continued fearlessly on their way to Carthage--into the very arms of death. Indeed, perhaps equally striking with the Prophet's foreknowledge of certain death was his unflinching courage in facing that death. It was just a little before midnight, on the twenty-fourth of June, that the company reached Carthage, and put up at Hamilton's tavern. The temper of the mob-militia assembled at Carthage was displayed by the outcries of the Carthage Greys and the general mob while the Prophet and his friends were passing the public square. "Where is the damned prophet?" "Stand away, you McDonough boys, and let us shoot the damned Mormons." "Clear the way and let us have a view of Joe Smith, the prophet of God. He has seen the last of Nauvoo. We'll use him up now, and kill all the damned Mormons." If the mob had hoped to daunt the noble spirit of the Prophet by this manifestation of insatiable, bloodthirsty hatred, they were sorely disappointed. Joseph Smith continued calmly, fearlessly on his way. He knew that he was going like a lamb to the slaughter; but his spirit was, as he had said, calm as a summer's morning. There was no thought of fear in his heart. There was no thought of wavering there. He had set his hand to the plow; he did not look back. It is needless to follow in detail the shameful proceedings of the next few days at Carthage. Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith were again arrested on a charge based on the destruction of the _Nauvoo Expositor_. They were violently dragged to prison by the Carthage Greys, without examination, on an illegal _mittimus_ prepared by Justice Robert F. Smith. The next day they were dragged forth from the jail, again by the Carthage Greys, though the _mittimus_ had ordered that they should remain imprisoned "until released by due course of law." And again, without examination, they were returned to the jail and thrust into close confinement. There was no attempt at a fair, legal trial. On the contrary, every effort was made to pervert the courts, to detain the witnesses for the defense, to delay proper proceedings, and otherwise to divert the course of justice. The mob leaders declared openly, "The law is too short for these men, but they must not be suffered to go at large"--"if the law will not reach them, powder and ball must." In short, Joseph Smith and his brother, Hyrum Smith, were overcome finally, not by the just decisions of a properly constituted court of law, but by the bloodthirsty passion of an infuriated mob. As with the lowly Nazarene, so with the humble American Prophet, the law would have washed its hands of the case, for it found in the Prophet an innocent man void of offense; but the lawless, passion-ruled mob would not have it so. They set aside the decisions of the courts.