Polygamy-Porter wrote:
He was out gunned and his brother died because he was a coward and not a martyr.
Willard Richards offered to die on Joseph's behalf. And Joseph prophesied that Richards would not be touched when a hail of bullets take down his friends:
A year before his assassination, the Prophet Joseph Smith told his close friend and personal secretary, Dr. Willard Richards, that the time would come when balls would fly around Willard like hail, and he would see his friends fall on the right and on the left, but there would not be a hole in Willard’s garments. On 27 June 1844, Brother Richards, who had offered to die in place of the Prophet Joseph, was voluntarily imprisoned in Carthage Jail with Joseph, Hyrum, and John Taylor. Hyrum was the first to fall as a ball, fired through the panel of the closed door, struck him in the face. He fell to the floor exclaiming, “I am a dead man.” As the mob forced the door partly open, Brother Richards, with a walking stick, courageously parried off the muskets that were thrust through the opening. But his efforts were in vain. Next, his fellow apostle, John Taylor, was shot several times and bled profusely from the wounds. Then his beloved Prophet Joseph was shot and fell through the second story window into the midst of a howling, murderous mob. With no thought for his own safety, Brother Richards rushed to the window, determined to see the end of the Prophet he loved. Miraculously, in fulfillment of Joseph’s prophecy, Elder Richards was preserved without even a hole in his garments.
Joseph Smith did not fire his pepper-box pistol until after the mob fired through the door and killed his brother, Hyrum.
The Carthage Greys reportedly feigned defense of the jail by firing shots or blanks over the attackers' heads, and some of the Greys reportedly joined the mob, who rushed up the stairs.[15]
The mob fired shots through the door and attempted to push the door open to fire into the room. Hyrum Smith was shot in the face, just to the left of his nose, throwing him to the floor. He cried out, "I am a dead man!" and collapsed. He died almost immediately.[17]
Joseph Smith, Taylor, and Richards attempted to defend themselves. Taylor and Richards attempted to use walking sticks in order to deflect the guns as they were thrust inside the cell, from behind the door. Smith used a small pepper-box pistol that Cyrus Wheelock gave him when Wheelock visited the jail earlier that day.[18] Three of the six barrels misfired,[19] but the other three shots injured at least three of the attackers.[20]
John Taylor was shot four or five times and was severely injured, but survived. One shot was long believed to have been stopped by his pocket watch, which is on display in the LDS Church History Museum in Salt Lake City. Forensic research by J. Lynn Lyon, M.D., of the University of Utah and LDS historian Glen M. Leonard in 2010 suggests that Taylor's watch was not struck by a ball, but rather broke against the window ledge.[21] Columbia University professor and historian Richard Bushman, the author of the Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling, also supports this view. Richards escaped unscathed as he was pushed behind the door when it was forced open.[citation needed]
After using all of the shots in his pistol, Joseph Smith made his way towards the window. As Smith prepared to jump down, Richards reported that he was shot twice in the back and a third bullet, fired from a musket on the ground outside, hit him in the chest.[2]:v6,p620
1851 lithograph of Smith's body being mutilated. (Library of Congress).
Taylor and Richards' accounts both report that as Smith fell from the window, he called out "Oh Lord, my God!". Some have alleged that the context of this statement was an attempt by Joseph Smith to use a Masonic distress signal.[22]
There are varying accounts of what happened next. Taylor and Richards' accounts state that Smith was dead when he landed after his fall. One eyewitness, William Daniels, wrote in his 1845 account that Smith was alive when mob members propped his body against a nearby well, assembled a makeshift firing squad, and shot him before fleeing. Daniels' account also states that one man tried to decapitate Smith for a bounty, but was prevented by divine intervention.[23] There were additional reports that thunder and lightning frightened the mob off.[24] Mob members fled, shouting, "The Mormons are coming," although there was no such force nearby.[25]
Joseph jumped out the window to save his two friends Taylor and Richards. That makes him heroic in his own martyrdom.
pepper-box pistol
