AN EXTRACT FROM THE HISTORY OF JOSEPH THE PROPHET--SIDNEY RIGDON'S
TRANSGRESSION--TROUBLE IN JACKSON COUNTY.
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.
I began to plead with them, saying, you will have mercy and spare
my life, I hope. To which they replied, "God d--mn ye, call on yer
God for help, we'll show ye no mercy;" and the people began to show
themselves in every direction; one coming from the orchard had a
plank, and I expected they would kill me, and carry me off on a
plank. They then turned to the right, and went on about thirty rods
further--about sixty rods from the house, and about thirty from
where I saw Elder Rigdon--into the meadow, where they stopped, and
one said, "Simonds, Simonds," (meaning, I suppose, Simonds Rider,)
"pull up his drawers, pull up his drawers, he will take cold."
Another replied, "A'nt ye going to kill 'im? A'nt ye going to kill
'im?" when a group of mobbers collected a little way off, and said,
"Simonds, Simonds, come here;" and Simonds charged those who had
hold of me to keep me from touching the ground (as they had done
all the time), lest I should get a spring upon them. They went
and held a council, and as I could occasionally overhear a word,
I supposed it was to know whether it was best to kill me. They
returned, after a while, when I learned that they had concluded not
to kill me, but pound and scratch me well, tear off my shirt and
drawers, and leave me naked: one cried, "Simonds, Simonds, where is
the tar bucket?" "I don't know," answered one, "where 'tis, Eli's
left it." They ran back and fetched the bucket of tar, when one
exclaimed, "God d--mn it, let us tar up his mouth;" and they tried
to force the tar paddle into my mouth; I twisted my head around,
so that they could not; and they cried out, "God d--mn ye, hold up
your head and let us give ye some tar." They then tried to force a
vial into my mouth, and broke it in my teeth. All my clothes were
torn off me, except my shirt collar; and one man fell on me and
scratched my body with his nails like a mad cat, and then muttered
out, "God d--mn ye, that's the way the Holy Ghost falls on folks."
They then left me, and I attempted to rise, but fell again; I
pulled the tar away from my lips, etc., so that I could breathe
more freely, and after a while I began to recover, and raised
myself up, when I saw two lights. I made my way towards one of
them, and found it was Father Johnson's. When I had come to the
door I was naked, and the tar made me look as though I was covered
with blood; and when my wife saw me, she thought I was all mashed
to pieces, and fainted. During the affray abroad, the sisters of
the neighborhood had collected at my room. I called for a blanket,
they threw me one and shut the door; I wrapped it around me, and
went in. * * * *
My friends spent the night in scraping and removing the tar, and
washing and cleansing my body; so that by morning I was ready to be
clothed again. This being Sabbath morning, the people assembled for
meeting at the usual hour of worship, and among those came also the
mobbers, viz., Simonds Rider, a Campbellite preacher, and leader of
the mob; one M'Clentic, son of a Campbellite minister, and Pelatiah
Allen, Esq., who gave the mob a barrel of whisky to raise their
spirits; and many others. With my flesh all scarified and defaced,
I preached to the congregation, as usual, and in the afternoon of
the same day baptized three individuals.--_Times and Seasons_, vol.
5, p. 611. _Millennial Star_, vol. 14, p. 148.
Sidney Rigdon went immediately to Kirtland, but Joseph remained at
Father Johnson's to finish his preparations for a journey, which he
contemplated making to Missouri. Immediately after Sidney's arrival
at Kirtland, we met for the purpose of holding a prayer meeting, and,
as Sidney had not been with us for some time, we hoped to hear from
him upon this occasion. We waited a long time before he made his
appearance; at last he came in, seemingly much agitated. He did not
go to the stand, but began to pace back and forth through the house.
My husband said, "Brother Sidney, we would like to hear a discourse
from you today," Brother Rigdon replied, in a tone of excitement, "The
keys of the kingdom are rent from the Church, and there shall not be
a prayer put up in this house this day." "Oh! no," said Mr. Smith, "I
hope not." "I tell you they are," rejoined Elder Rigdon, "and no man or
woman shall put up a prayer in this place today."
This greatly disturbed the minds of many sisters, and some brethren.
The brethren stared and turned pale, and the sisters cried. Sister
Howe, in particular, was very much terrified: "Oh dear me!" said she,
"what shall we do? what shall we do? The keys of the kingdom are taken
from us, and what shall we do?" "I tell you again," said Sidney, with
much feeling, "the keys of the kingdom are taken from you, and you
never will have them again until you build me a new house."
Hyrum was vexed at this frivolous nonsense, and, taking his hat, he
went out of the house, saying, "I'll put a stop to this fuss, pretty
quick; I'm going for Joseph."
"Oh don't," said Sister Howe, "for pity's sake, don't go for him.
Brother Sidney says the keys of the kingdom are taken from us, and
where is the use of bringing Joseph here?"
Hyrum took a horse, and went immediately to Father Johnson's, for
Joseph. He arrived there in the afterpart of the night. Joseph being
informed of the precise situation of affairs, he got a horse from
Father Johnsom, and started without delay, with Hyrum, for Kirtland.
On his arrival there, the brethren were collected for meeting. Joseph
went upon the stand, and informed the brethren that they were under a
great mistake, that the Church had not transgressed; "and, as for the
keys of the kingdom," said he, "I, myself, hold the keys of this Last
Dispensation, and will for ever hold them, both in time and eternity;
so set your hearts at rest upon that point, all is right."
He then went on and preached a comforting discourse, after which he
appointed a council to sit the next day, by which Sidney was tried, for
having lied in the name of the Lord. In this council Joseph told him,
he must suffer for what he had done, that he should be delivered over
to the buffetings of Satan, who would handle him as one man handleth
another, that the less Priesthood he had, the better it would be for
him, and that it would be well for him to give up his license.
This counsel Sidney complied with, yet he had to suffer for his folly,
for, according to his own account, he was dragged out of bed by the
devil, three times in one night, by his heels. Whether this be true or
not, one thing is certain, his contrition of soul was as great as a man
could well live through.
After he had sufficiently humbled himself, he received another license;
but the old one was retained, and is now in the hands of Bishop Whitney.
On the second of April, 1832, Joseph set off for Missouri, accompanied
by Newel K. Whitney, Peter Whitmer, and Jesse Gauze. They were taken by
Brother Pitkin to the town of Warren, where they were joined by Brother
Rigdon, and they all pursued their journey together.
During her husband's absence, Emma Smith lived with Reynolds Cahoon,
Father Smith, and Dr. F. G. Williams, occasionally spending a short
time with us.
On the twenty-fourth of April, Joseph arrived at Independence. He
made haste to attend to the business that lay before him, and on the
sixth of May following, he, with Brothers Whitney and Rigdon, left
Independence for Kirtland. When they arrived at New Albany, Brother
Whitney had the misfortune to get his leg broken. This detained Joseph,
who remained, in order to take care of him, four weeks at Mr. Porter's
public house in Greenville. While they were at this place, Joseph had
poison administered to him in his food, which operated very violently
upon his system, but he soon recovered, and the next morning they
pursued their journey again, and arrived in Kirtland some time in the
month of June. When Joseph got home, he immediately procured a house
for his wife; and, after making his family comfortable, he went on a
mission to the east, leaving his family in the care of Hyrum. Shortly
after he left, Joseph Smith the third was born.
After Joseph returned from his mission to the east, he established a
school for the elders, and called them all home from the different
parts of the country where they had been laboring. This was called the
School of the Prophets; and was kept in an upper room of the house in
which Joseph resided.
At this time my sons were all called home, and shortly after they
arrived, Joseph took all the male portion of our family into the
before-named school room, and administered to them the ordinance of
washing of feet; after which the Spirit fell upon them, and they
spake in tongues, and prophesied. The brethren gathered together to
witness the manifestations of the power of God. At that time I was on
the farm a short distance from the place where the meeting was held,
and my children being anxious that I should enjoy the meeting, sent a
messenger in great haste for me. I went without delay, and shared with
the rest, the most glorious outpouring of the Spirit of God, that had
ever before taken place in the Church. We felt that we had gained a
decided victory over the adversary, and,
We could not believe,
That we ever should grieve,
Or ever should sorrow again.
But, alas! our joy was soon mingled with woe. It was but a few
months, before a messenger arrived from Missouri, with tidings of the
difficulty in Jackson county; that Brothers Partridge and Allen had
been tarred and feathered, and put into prison; that some had been
killed and others shot; and among the latter, was Brother Dibble, who
had been dangerously wounded.
Upon hearing this, Joseph was overwhelmed with grief. He burst into
tears and sobbed aloud, "Oh my brethren! my brethren;" he exclaimed,
"would that I had been with you, to have shared your fate. Oh my God,
what shall I do in such a trial as this!"
After his grief had a little subsided, he called a council, and it was
resolved, that the brethren from the surrounding country, as well as
those in Kirtland, should go immediately to Missouri, and take with
them money and clothing to relieve the brethren in their distress.[A]
[Footnote A: A revelation was received (see Doctrine and Covenants,
section 101), requiring the brethren from Kirtland and other places in
the state, to proceed to Missouri and relieve the persecuted Saints,
and importune the civil authorities in their behalf. (See also Doctrine
and Covenants, section 103).]