Dalliance
wrote:
I still need to do research on the incident to verify. I didn't catch the name of the place in which it happened, so I may be entirely off target.
incident? Wasn't just one, there were many, and it went on for many years.
Joseph Smith died in a gun battle one day while meeting with, as they call each other, his Brothers and Elders.
Here's some excerpts from the History.
""Immediately there was a little rustling at the outer door of the jail, and a cry of surrender, and also a discharge of three or four firearms followed instantly. The doctor glanced an eye by the curtain of the window, and saw about a hundred armed men around the door." ... "In the meantime Joseph, Hyrum, and Elder Taylor had their coats off. Joseph sprang to his coat for his six-shooter, Hyrum for his single barrel, Taylor for Markham's large hickory cane, and Dr. Richards for Taylor's cane. All sprang against the door, the balls whistled up the stairway, and in an instant one came through the door. (History of the Church, Vol.6, Ch.34, p.617)
"Joseph reached round the door casing, and discharged his six shooter into the passage, some barrels missing fire. Continual discharges of musketry came into the room Elder Taylor continued parrying the guns until they had got them about half their length into the room, when he found that resistance was vain, and he attempted to jump out of the window, where a ball fired from within struck him on his left thigh, hitting the bone, and passing through to within half an inch of the other side. He fell on the window sill, when a ball fired from the outside struck his watch in his vest pocket, and threw him back into the room." (History of the Church, Vol.6, Ch.34, p.618)
"When Hyrum fell, Joseph exclaimed, "Oh dear, brother Hyrum!" and opening the door a few inches he discharged his six shooter in the stairway (as stated before), two or three barrels of which missed fire." (History of the Church, Vol.6, Ch.34, p.618)
[John Taylor testified that Joseph Smith] "snapped the pistol six successive times; only three of the barrels, however, were discharged. I afterwards understood that two or three were wounded by these discharges, two of whom, I am informed, died, I had in my hands a large, strong hickory stick, brought there by Brother Markham, and left by him, which I had seized as soon as I saw the mob approach; and while Brother Joseph was firing the pistol, I stood close behind him. As soon as he had discharged it he stepped back, and I immediately took his place next to the door, while he occupied the one I had done while he was shooting. Brother Richards, at this time, had a knotty walking-stick in his hands belonging to me, and stood next to Brother Joseph, a little farther from the door, in an oblique direction, apparently to avoid the rake of the fire from the door. The firing of Brother Joseph made our assailants pause for a moment; very soon after, however, they pushed the door some distance open, and protruded and discharged their guns into the room, when I parried them off with my stick, giving another direction to the balls." (History of the Church, Vol.7, Ch.9, p.103)
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That's how Mormons ended up way over in Utah and Idaho, they fled there after being hung and shot every where else.
Like I mentioned, I haven't been to church for a long time, don't even consider myself Mormon, but still, that's where my roots are, and I think they are a pretty nice group of people.
Yeah, a lot of their beliefs are wacky, but it's what they believe, they have the right to believe it, I take the parts I like, and let them have the rest.
The way it's been told to me, by Mormons and non-Mormons interested in the History of Mormons, the more than one wife thing came because they were getting killed so fast. Once they were allowed to live and practice their beliefs without having a shoot-out, they lost the multiple wife thing, and the ones that wanted to keep it, formed their own sect called Jack-Mormons, but even they grew so different from the Mormons that they no longer wanted to be called Jack-Mormons, they have some totally different name now(which I never cared to learn, maybe one of you know who they are.. )
