Other speakers on the occasion favoured the proposition; but some opposed it, maintaining as fiercely their opposition to "killing men in jail." Finally, a call was made for volunteers, whereupon William N. Grover was the first to advance, and was followed by the company that committed the murder.
The assassination of Joseph Smith was deplored by every right-thinking person. Aside from the horror and detestation naturally entertained against the crime of murder, it was readily seen that the dignity of martyrdom was the Prophet's crown of glory. It carved for him a place in history to which a natural death would never have conducted him.[1]
It has been difficult for public writers to agree when summing up his character. To one class he has appeared as the knave and the impostor; to others, the fanatic and self-deceived; to his own people he was the greatest of prophets; while others still have suggested that he was the victim of the extravagances of spirit-communications with an imagination crude, uncultivated, and superstitious. Knowing little and believing much, every impression was to him a revelation, and every calamity to the world an evidence that "the end" was nigh at hand. An English writer, closing a notice of the Prophet's career, says of him:
"If anything can tend to encourage the supposition that Joseph Smith was a sincere enthusiast, maddened with religious frenzies, as many have been before and will be after him; and that he had a strong invincible faith in his own high pretensions and divine mission, it is the probability that, unless supported by such feelings, he would have renounced the unprofitable and ungrateful task, and sought refuge from persecution and misery in private life and honourable industry. But whether knave or lunatic, whether a liar or a true man, it cannot be denied that he was one of the most extraordinary persons of his time, a man of rude genius, who accomplished a much greater work than he knew, and whose name, whatever he may have been whilst living, will take its place among the notabilities of the world."[2]
- ↑ "He is embalmed in the affectionate memory of thousands; and as time lends a halo of enchantment to encircle his name, hymns of praise and legends of his holy deeds will be sung and cherished by those who believe that the Prophet-Saint of earth is to reign a god over a brilliant world of his own creation, surrounded by happy queens and carolling children, through his own blessed eternity."—Lieut. Gunnisori's Work, p. 165.
- ↑ "The Mormons," p. 165. Mackay.
