There have been many references to the reason behind the "tar and feathering" of Joseph Smith. The principal reason offered by "Guitarsoup" and several other is becasue of an illicit immoral affair with a fourteen year old girl. Respected historians, such as Dr. Richard Bushman, Columbia University professor emirtus, state that there is not a shread of evidence to support this accusation but this has never slowed down Fawn Brodie in her anti-Mormon publications.
This the official account by his mother and Dr. Bushman. On the night of March 24, 1832 while laying down with one of his children who was sick with measles, he was awakened by the screaming of his wife. He found himself suddenly going out of the door in the hands of about a dozen men; some of whose hands were in his hair, and some had hold of his shirt, drawers, and limbs.
"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 G__, they would kill me if I did not be still, which quieted me. As they passed around the house with me, the fellow thatI kicked came to me and thrust his hands into my face all covered with blood (for I hit him on the nose), and with an exultant horselaugh, muttered, 'Gee,gee,G___d___ye, I'll fix ye.'
They then siezed 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 Sidney 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, G___d___ye, call on yer God for help, we'll show you no mercy; and the people began to show themselves in every direction until there was over fifty; one coming from the orchard with a plank and and I expected they would kill me and carry me off on a plank. They then turned to the right and went on about 30 rods farther -about 60 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, 'ain't ye going to kill im? Ain't ye going to kill im?' When a group of mobbers collected a little way off and said, 'Simmonds, Simmonds, come here; and Simmonds charged those who had hold of me to keep me from touching the ground (as they had done all the time) lest I should spring upon them. They went and held a council, and I could occasionally overhear a word, I supposed it was to know whether it was best to kill me. They returned after awhile 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 buckets?'
I don't know answered one, where it is, Eli's left it. They ran back and fetched the bucket of tar, when one exclaimed, with an oath, '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, 'G___d___ye, hold up yer head and let us giv 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 of me except my shirt collar; one man fell on me and scratched my body with his nails like a mad cat, and then muttered out, G___d___ye, that's the way the Holy Ghost falls on folks.'
During the attack, Joseph was stretched on a board and they tore his clothes off for the purpose of emasculating him with Dr. Dennison there to perform the task. But when Dr. Dennison saw the Prophet stripped and stretched on the plank, his heart failed him and he refused to operate. The hisorian Fawn Brodie speculated that it wa to be done to punish Joseph for an intimacy with Nancy Miranda, a daughter of John Johnson, but the hypothesis falls for a lack of evidence.
In the meantime, Brother John Poorman heard an out cry across the cornfield, and running that way met Father Johnson, who had been fastened in his house at the commencement of the assault by having his door bared by the mob. He called to his wife to bring his gun, saying he would blow a hole through the door; the mob fled, and Father Johnson, seizing a club ran after the party that had left Elder Rigdon and knocked one man down and raised his club to level another.
Joseph's friends spent the night in scraping and removing the tar and washing and cleansing his body, so that by morning he was ready to be clothed again. This being the Sabbath morning, the people assembled for meeting at the ususal hour of worship, and among them came also the mobbers,viz. Simonds Rider, a Campbellite (Church of Christ) preacher and leader of the mob; one McClentic, who had his hands in my hair, one Streeter, son of a Campbellite (Church of Christ) minister...With his flesh all scarified and defaced, Joseph preached to the congregation as usual, and in the afternoon of the same day baptized three individuals.
The next morning Joseph went to see Elder Rigdon and found him crazy and his head highly inflamed, for they had dragged him by his heels and so high from the ground that he could not raise his head. It was lacerated exceedingly from the rough, frozen surface. The feathers used with the tar had been taken from Elder Rigdon's house.
During the mobbing, one of the twins contracted a severe cold and continued to grow worse till Friday and died. The mobbers were composed of various religious parties, but mostly Campbellites (Church of Christ), Methodists and Baptists, who continued to molest and menace Father Johnson's house for a long time.
There is some interesting speculation as to the real reasons for the attack on Sidney Rigdon and Joseph. Sidney had been a very successful Campbellite (Church of Christ) preacher before he joined the LDS Church, who had been preceeded in his conversion by another Campbellite (Church of Christ) preacher, Parley P. Pratt. It was well known of the anger of Alexander Campbell towards Joseph Smith for the loss of two of his ministers and many of their congregation. When Joseph was murdered, Alexander Campbell wrote in the Millenial Harbinger the following: "the money digger, the juggler and the founder of the golden bible delusion has been hurried away in the madness to his final account. The hand of the Lord was heavy on him. An outlaw himself, God cut him off by outlaws." Expressing similar sentiments was Rev. William G. Brownlowe as published in the Jonesboro Wake: "Smith was killed as he should have been. Three cheers to the brave company who shot him to pieces."
So the question rises, was Simonds Rider, the Campbellite (Church of Christ)minister along with the other Campbellites, and others, acting upon the behest of Alexander Campbell? Why the brutal treatment of Sidney Rigdon just before the attack on Joseph? One does have to wonder.
IBMAGG
[This message has been edited by ibmagg (edited 4/5/2006 11:49a).]
This the official account by his mother and Dr. Bushman. On the night of March 24, 1832 while laying down with one of his children who was sick with measles, he was awakened by the screaming of his wife. He found himself suddenly going out of the door in the hands of about a dozen men; some of whose hands were in his hair, and some had hold of his shirt, drawers, and limbs.
"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 G__, they would kill me if I did not be still, which quieted me. As they passed around the house with me, the fellow thatI kicked came to me and thrust his hands into my face all covered with blood (for I hit him on the nose), and with an exultant horselaugh, muttered, 'Gee,gee,G___d___ye, I'll fix ye.'
They then siezed 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 Sidney 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, G___d___ye, call on yer God for help, we'll show you no mercy; and the people began to show themselves in every direction until there was over fifty; one coming from the orchard with a plank and and I expected they would kill me and carry me off on a plank. They then turned to the right and went on about 30 rods farther -about 60 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, 'ain't ye going to kill im? Ain't ye going to kill im?' When a group of mobbers collected a little way off and said, 'Simmonds, Simmonds, come here; and Simmonds charged those who had hold of me to keep me from touching the ground (as they had done all the time) lest I should spring upon them. They went and held a council, and I could occasionally overhear a word, I supposed it was to know whether it was best to kill me. They returned after awhile 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 buckets?'
I don't know answered one, where it is, Eli's left it. They ran back and fetched the bucket of tar, when one exclaimed, with an oath, '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, 'G___d___ye, hold up yer head and let us giv 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 of me except my shirt collar; one man fell on me and scratched my body with his nails like a mad cat, and then muttered out, G___d___ye, that's the way the Holy Ghost falls on folks.'
During the attack, Joseph was stretched on a board and they tore his clothes off for the purpose of emasculating him with Dr. Dennison there to perform the task. But when Dr. Dennison saw the Prophet stripped and stretched on the plank, his heart failed him and he refused to operate. The hisorian Fawn Brodie speculated that it wa to be done to punish Joseph for an intimacy with Nancy Miranda, a daughter of John Johnson, but the hypothesis falls for a lack of evidence.
In the meantime, Brother John Poorman heard an out cry across the cornfield, and running that way met Father Johnson, who had been fastened in his house at the commencement of the assault by having his door bared by the mob. He called to his wife to bring his gun, saying he would blow a hole through the door; the mob fled, and Father Johnson, seizing a club ran after the party that had left Elder Rigdon and knocked one man down and raised his club to level another.
Joseph's friends spent the night in scraping and removing the tar and washing and cleansing his body, so that by morning he was ready to be clothed again. This being the Sabbath morning, the people assembled for meeting at the ususal hour of worship, and among them came also the mobbers,viz. Simonds Rider, a Campbellite (Church of Christ) preacher and leader of the mob; one McClentic, who had his hands in my hair, one Streeter, son of a Campbellite (Church of Christ) minister...With his flesh all scarified and defaced, Joseph preached to the congregation as usual, and in the afternoon of the same day baptized three individuals.
The next morning Joseph went to see Elder Rigdon and found him crazy and his head highly inflamed, for they had dragged him by his heels and so high from the ground that he could not raise his head. It was lacerated exceedingly from the rough, frozen surface. The feathers used with the tar had been taken from Elder Rigdon's house.
During the mobbing, one of the twins contracted a severe cold and continued to grow worse till Friday and died. The mobbers were composed of various religious parties, but mostly Campbellites (Church of Christ), Methodists and Baptists, who continued to molest and menace Father Johnson's house for a long time.
There is some interesting speculation as to the real reasons for the attack on Sidney Rigdon and Joseph. Sidney had been a very successful Campbellite (Church of Christ) preacher before he joined the LDS Church, who had been preceeded in his conversion by another Campbellite (Church of Christ) preacher, Parley P. Pratt. It was well known of the anger of Alexander Campbell towards Joseph Smith for the loss of two of his ministers and many of their congregation. When Joseph was murdered, Alexander Campbell wrote in the Millenial Harbinger the following: "the money digger, the juggler and the founder of the golden bible delusion has been hurried away in the madness to his final account. The hand of the Lord was heavy on him. An outlaw himself, God cut him off by outlaws." Expressing similar sentiments was Rev. William G. Brownlowe as published in the Jonesboro Wake: "Smith was killed as he should have been. Three cheers to the brave company who shot him to pieces."
So the question rises, was Simonds Rider, the Campbellite (Church of Christ)minister along with the other Campbellites, and others, acting upon the behest of Alexander Campbell? Why the brutal treatment of Sidney Rigdon just before the attack on Joseph? One does have to wonder.
IBMAGG
[This message has been edited by ibmagg (edited 4/5/2006 11:49a).]
