an interesting point of view on Smith's death

[alanmolstad]

" At the time of his murder, Smith was still under indictment for the attempted murder of Lilburn Boggs in Missouri. Smith used legal chicanery to avoid prosecution, hiring lawyer Cyrus Walker to get him off on technicalities, in return for promising Walker, a candidate for state office, the Mormon vote. But Smith double-crossed Walker by allowing his followers to vote for Walker's compe***or.

Smith had also formed a secret "Council of Fifty" trusted men, whom he planned to become the replacement government of the US when Smith took control of the nation as its theocratic dictator. His attempts to ins***ute a state church enraged his opponents, which included some former Mormons.

Smith's other big offense was his secret polygamy practice. After having denied it for years, Smith's practice was exposed by some dissident Mormons in a newspaper called the "Nauvoo Expositor." Its publishers also had charges filed against Smith of adultery and polygamy. Wishing to keep polygamy and his "council of fifty" secret, Smith retaliated by ordering the "Expositor" press destroyed. Its publishers then fled to the county seat at Carthage and swore warrants against him for inciting a riot.

Smith's bogus Nauvoo city court again found him "innocent" on the charge, but the state militia prepared to march to Nauvoo to arrest him. So Smith activated the "Nauvoo Legion" to prevent the militia from entering the city. Fearing arrest anyway, Smith fled across the Mississippi River and prepared to escape to parts west. But his wife Emma and other friends sent him messages calling him a coward and demanding that he return to face charges.

So Smith returned and submitted to arrest at Carthage on a charge of treason, which resulted from his illegal activation of the Nauvoo Legion (which was a state-sponsored militia) to prevent his arrest.

Once Smith was finally in custody, his opponents saw that as their opportunity to bring him to the justice which he had evaded for years. They didn't want to give Smith the chance to use legal wrangling to escape yet again. So they formed a mob to storm the jail and killed him as an act of what they viewed as "vigilantism."

Bottom line being that Smith wasn't killed because of his religious beliefs, but because of his repeated lies and crimes. And Smith had no intention of dying in Carthage Jail; he and friends had two smuggled pistols which they used against the mob. And on the morning of his death, Smith smuggled out a message to Nauvoo Legion commander Jonathan Dunham to come break them out of jail. Dunham declined to obey the order, because he knew that was illegal, since the Legion had been ordered disbanded by Governor Thomas Ford.

When the mob stormed the jail, Smith had every reason to believe that the Legion was coming as per his order. That is why he ran to the window and attempted to voice the Masonic distress call "O Lord My God! Is there no help for the widow's son?" But before he could complete the statement, he was shot and fell from the window. The Legion never came, even though the mob quickly scattered in fear that they were on the way there."















http://www.exmormon.org/mormon/mormon320.htm

[dberrie2000]

Originally Posted by alanmolstad

" At the time of his murder, Smith was still under indictment for the attempted murder of Lilburn Boggs in Missouri.

Porter Rockwell was also being tried for that offense in Missouri. It took the jury all of 15 minutes to return a verdict of not guilty. Porter Rockwell's defense was that "if I had shot him, he'd be dead!"