"When in March, 1842, the prophet, Joseph Smith, assisted by some of the leading elders in the church, organized the Female Relief Society (now the great female organization of Utah), I was present, and was appointed secretary of that society, of which I shall say more hereafter. In the summer of 1842 I accompanied Mrs. Emma Smith, the president of the society, to Quincy, Ill., with a petition signed by several hundred members of the society, praying his Excellency, Governor Carlin, for protection from illegal suits then pending against Joseph Smith. We met with a very cordial reception, and presented the petition, whereupon the governor pledged his word and honor that he would use his influence to protect Mr. Smith, whose innocence he acknowledged. But, soon after our return, we learned that at the time of our visit and while making protestations of friendship, Governor Carlin was secretly conniving with the basest of men to destroy our leader. He was even combining with minions of the great adversary of truth in the State of Missouri, who were vigilant in stirring up their colleagues in Illinois, to bring about the terrible crisis. "The awful tragedy of the 27th of June, 1844, is a livid, burning, scathing stain on our national escutcheon. To look upon the noble, lifeless forms of those brothers, Joseph and Hyrum Smith, as they lay side by side in their burial clothes, having been brought home from Carthage, where they had been slaughtered in their manhood and in their innocence, was a sight that might well appal the heart of a true American citizen; but what it was for loving wives and children, the heart may feel, but the tongue can never tell. "This scene occurred in America, 'the land of the free and the home of the brave,' to which our ancestors fled for religious freedom--where the 'dear old flag yet waves,' and under which not one effort has been made to bring to justice the perpetrators of that foul deed." To the aged mother of the prophet and patriarch of the Mormon Church shall be given the personal presentation of the subject of the martyrdom; for although the mother's heartrending description cannot be considered as a sufficiently great historical word-picture of the scene, yet there is much of tragic force in it. She says: "On the morning of the 24th of June, 1844, Joseph and Hyrum were arrested for treason, by a warrant founded upon the oaths of A. O. Norton and Augustine Spencer. "I will not dwell upon the awful scene which succeeded. My heart is thrilled with grief and indignation, and my blood curdles in my veins whenever I speak of it.