The Story of the Mormons, from the Date of Their Origin to the Year 1901Linn, William Alexander
History
The Story of the Mormons, from the Date of Their Origin to the Year 1901
Linn, William Alexander
Latter Day Saints -- History; Utah -- History
"The burial place of the brothers Joseph and Hyrum has always remained a
secret, being known only to a very few of the immediate family. In fact,
unless it has lately been revealed to others, the exact spot is known
only to my father and his brother. Others who knew the secret are now
silent in death. The reasons for the secrecy were that it was feared
that, if the burial place was known at the time, there might have been
an inclination on the part of the enemies of those men to desecrate
their bodies and graves. There is not now, and probably has not been for
years, any danger of such desecration, and the only reason I can see for
still keeping it a secret is the natural disinclination on the part of
the family to talk about such matters.
"However, I have been on the ground with my father when I knew I was
standing within a few feet of where the remains were lying, and it is
known to many about where that spot is. It is a short distance from the
Nauvoo House, on the bank of the Mississippi. The lot is still owned by
the family, the title being in my father's name. There is not, that
I know, any intention of ever taking the bodies to Far West or
Independence, Missouri. The chances are that their resting places will
never be disturbed other than to erect on the spot a monument. In fact,
a movement is now underway to raise the means to do that. A monument
fund is being subscribed to by the members of the church. The monument
would have been erected by the family, but it is not financially able to
do it."
In the October following, indictments were found against Colonel
Williams of the Warsaw regiment, State Senator J. C. Davis, Editor
Sharp, and six others, including three who were said to have been
wounded by Smith's pistol shots, but the sheriff did not succeed in
making any arrests. In the May following some of the accused appeared
for trial. A struck jury was obtained, but, in the existing state of
public feeling, an acquittal was a foregone conclusion. The guards at
the jail would identify no one, and Daniels, the pamphlet writer, and
another leading witness for the prosecution gave contradictory accounts.
But the prophet, according to Mormon recitals, did not go unavenged.
Lieutenant Worrell, who commanded the detachment of the guards at the
jail, was shot not long after, as we shall see. Murray McConnell, who
represented the governor in the prosecution of the alleged lynchers, was
assassinated twenty-four years later. P. P. Pratt gives an account
of the fate of other "persecutors." The arm of one Townsend, who was
wounded by Joe's pistol, continued to rot until it was taken off, and
then would not heal. A colonel of the Missouri forces, who died in
Sacramento in 1849, "was eaten with worms, a large, black-headed kind of
maggot, seeming a half-pint at a time." Another Missourian's "face and
jaw on one side literally rotted, and half his face actually fell off."*
*Pratt's "Autobiography," pp. 475-476.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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