(SMITH, JOSEPH) | Death of the Mormon Prophet in the National Intelligencer, Vol. LXII, No. 6583. Washington: [W. W. Seaton], Tuesday, July 8, 1844

Property from the Eric C. Caren Collection

(SMITH, JOSEPH)

Death of the Mormon Prophet in the National Intelligencer, Vol. LXII, No. 6583. Washington: [W. W. Seaton], Tuesday, July 8, 1844

Large folio, 4 pages (23 1/8 x 18 1/4 in.; 588 x 464 mm) on a bifolium of wove paper, text in six columns; some foxing, some marginal chips, disbound. The consignor has independently obtained a letter of authenticity from PSA that will accompany the lot.

An early newspaper account of the death of Mormon prophet Joseph Smith

"We know not what occurred on the 26th, but Smith and two of his followers lost their lives the next day..."

In 1844, a group of dissenting Mormons began publishing a newspaper that was critical of the practice of polygamy, and, more broadly, of Smith’s leadership. In response to this, Smith had the press destroyed. Smith and his brother Hyrum, were ultimately charged with treason (rather than the letter charge of inciting a riot) and were imprisoned in the Carthage city jail. Late in the afternoon of 27 June, an armed mob stormed the jail, and fired shots into the room where Joseph and his companions were being held. Hyrum was shot and killed almost immediately, and Joseph rushed to a window, where he was shot in the chest and the back, and fell to the ground below, where a third shot killed him. Following the announcement of Smith's death, the Intelligencer goes on to print an extract from the Quincy Herald, which had been published on 28 June, a day after the murder of Smith and his brother.