a night of fury—the murderous mob at hiram—joseph dragged from his bed, and is stripped, bruised and almost slain by a profane and drunken crowd led by apostates and sectarian ministers.
when the prophet went to hiram he carried with him twin children, the offspring of john murdock, which emma adopted when they were nine days old, intending to rear them in place of twin children of her own which had died. these babes were now eleven months old. on the 25th of march they were very ill, and the prophet and his wife were anxiously nursing them and getting only a little broken rest. at a late hour of the night joseph was lying down and slumbering heavily from weariness, when emma heard a gentle tapping on the window. her senses were dulled by sleepiness, and she paid little attention to the noise and made no inquiry nor investigation. a few moments later an infuriated mob burst the door open and surrounded the bed whereon joseph lay in deep slumber. ten or twelve of them had seized him and were dragging him from the house when emma screamed. the cry awakened the prophet, and in an instant he realized his position. as they were taking him through the door he made a desperate struggle to release himself. getting a limb clear for a moment, he kicked one of the mob with such force as to fell the wretch to the ground. but before joseph could bring his superior physical powers to bear, he was confined again within the grasp of numerous hands; and with a torrent of oaths, in which the mobbers profaned the name of deity, they declared that they would kill him if he did not cease his struggles. as they started around the house with him, the mobocrat whom he had kicked came thrusting his bloody hands into the prophet's face and shrieked at him with frightful execrations. then they seized his throat and choked him until he ceased to breathe. when he recovered his senses from this inhuman attack he was nearly a furlong from the house, and there he saw sidney rigdon stretched upon the ground where the mob had dragged him by the heels. the prophet thought that his companion was dead.
these fiendish men continued to curse him and to blaspheme the name of deity. they told him to ask his god for help, for they would give him none. they then dragged him nearly another furlong into a meadow and began calling to each other, continuing, however, to utter threats and oaths at him. by this time many additions had been made to their number. one cried out asking if joseph was not to be killed. a group gathered at a little distance to hold a council and fix upon the prophet's fate; while several of their number held him suspended in the air lest his person should touch the ground and thereby give him an opportunity to get a spring and wrench himself loose. after the council was concluded, the leading mobocrats declared that they would not kill him but would strip him naked and whip and tear his flesh. one cried out for a tar bucket, and when it was brought another exclaimed with a wicked oath, "let us tar up his mouth!" they thrust a reeking tar paddle into his face and attempted to force it down his throat, but he kept his teeth tightly clenched. then they tried to force a phial containing aquafortis into his mouth, but it broke between his lips. not content with inflicting all this violence upon the prophet's helpless form, one of the inhuman wretches, as though he was a devil incarnate, fell upon him and began to tear like a wildcat, at the same time screaming with a curse, "that's the way the holy ghost falls on folks!"
while the mob were bruising him they mentioned two names that were familiar to him, "simonds" and "eli."
after they left joseph, he attempted to rise, but fell back again from pain and exhaustion. he succeeded, however, in tearing the tar away from his face so that he could breathe freely, and shortly afterward he began to recover. arising, he made his way toward a light and found that it was from the house of father johnson where he lived. emma saw his bruised form covered with tar, and thinking him to be fatally mangled she screamed and fainted.
securing some covering for his person, the prophet entered the house, and spent the night in cleansing his body and dressing his wounds.
before making the assault upon joseph, the mob had locked father johnson in his room. he had called for his wife to bring his gun, saying that he would blow a hole through the door, and at this the mob fled. as soon as he could force an egress, father johnson rushed from the house, seizing a club as he ran. he overtook the party which had captured sidney rigdon, and knocked one man down, and was about to smite another to the earth, when the mob deserted their first victim to attack the heroic old man. this diversion saved sidney only for a brief time. the mob soon returned to him and inflicted serious pain and indignity upon him. they dragged him by his heels and left his head to strike upon the rough and frozen ground. by such barbarous treatment his scalp was lacerated and his body bruised, and he was driven into a delirium.
the next morning, being the sabbath, the people assembled at the usual hour of worship. with them came some of the mobbers, simonds rider, an apostate and campbellite preacher, leader of the mob; one mcclentic, son of a campbellite minister; and pelatiah allen, esq., who had given the mob a barrel of whisky to fill them with the devilish daring necessary for their crime. many others of the mob were also in attendance.
with his flesh all bruised and scarred, joseph went to the meeting and stood before the congregation, facing his assailants of the previous night calmly and manfully. he preached a powerful sermon and on the same day baptized three believers into the church.
this mob was chiefly composed of religious men, principally sanctimonious campbellites, methodists and baptists, besides several apostates from the church. they continued to watch the house of father johnson, and even the death of one of the helpless little children, which occurred on the friday following from the exposures of the night of the attack, could not dissuade the demoniac men from their purpose. indeed, the death of this poor little infant seemed to act upon them like a taste of blood upon a tiger. it drove them to a murderous frenzy. the spirit of mobocracy spread through all that region of country and was particularly fierce at kirtland. sidney rigdon fled to the latter city from hiram, taking his sick family; but after a brief rest was compelled again to flee and went to chardon. the prophet himself remained in hiram during another week.
