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Show CHURCH NOW OWNS . "I OLD CARTHAGE JAIjf History oi fho Knio Old istrue- turo Clivon lly n Keokuk'"'! I'npar. il As nnnnnniH In thlspaperTlitirsjlny the oM C'trtbngo Jill In which J"ith Smith wits killed, hns been purehnscd by tho MornmiiB Tho pile Pl H,000, not an cxoibllant price because thu property ujnxistH of itu ncruI giound, tho building uud severnl guml outbuildliigs. 1 tie property IiaSjibetT kept in gfiud repuir-nud m woithlhe prico it hiDUglil Woid viiiiiuh from Salt Like Oily Unit, it is (he Internum of thu Mormons o' make a lueniorint iiiuseuiii of the prop erty, nnd it mey soni" day become du of the nottd liiiioriuil npoit in this section sec-tion whint Mirinonisiii licld swuy In the 40'. Joneph Sinilli and lili biolhor wen killed in HiIn j .il on June "2J, 1811, and it is said that i lie body of Jox. Smftli lies now in 11 'in cod. lonu'y nt a spot which fewr people know of. Al tills lime iv short description of tho'Jold prison mil the exciting tiiut s of 1841 will not be mutes. The Cnrthnge jail is a rn'cold Iiiatoric structure, one of the rued, prubattlv ill the state. It U (ert.iliiiy the iimimI noted jiil in tho xtato PomiIo cuno to Cmhago from all parts of iiiu Diilomtn tellioold r.tune jxil It 'iill stHiidm lung time ff (lie, or the destinylng hand of innn does not wreck It. ft would jlJi-n jlJi-n great wiong to the future to let tht old building b "lestroyed. Wliat woujd we give now if the grand old temple wero standing in Nnuvoo' What a rare old relic that would be I The man who Died that temple should have been shot. It ns burned in 1818. "J The old jail in n siouu structure fibout 10x30 feet in size, two stories lifyj There is n lotv attic lit thu peak. Tile stone is n siiufl-colored biowu, nnjbvory plainly shows thu effect of tho vvenlbjfr upon It. Il linsnll the outwiird inarks (Continued on pngu thrcolW w.UlRi - , a- c'r"-i",."""l""" -" ". HURCH NOW OWNS OLD CARTHAGE JAIL H -y ' tt ,' (Continued from pugo one) niul. slgiu of nn old building. The blocks of alone nre from ten to twenty inches thick, niul from one to tlnct feet 'V lojiir. The walls are three feot thick t two feet flnvnn Inches to bi exnet. Tlio 'UVone 1ms been colored by expoauro to -a , t!ie weather. Tlutt is plain to bo eeen. A , Tlio heavy door and window enpe nru nmde of lighter stone. Thy look llkn " ,.' long-worn limestone. The blocks of stone In tbo building nro roughly cut, ,. , nnd arc senmed with ngo. The old door and window cntinps'nre ''i still there, nnd most of tlio old doors '-,' itlo. Tlio Iron bare, of course, have t been removed. Tlio puttied up holes ihnt the bnrs weru taken from nro plnlu ; ,, to bo eecn. Tho stairway goes up n llttlo back ; .' t'r0,n n,u' '" fro"t ' ,n0 'rout door. The ' f0110 Wg coll in the Jnll was at the north end, upstair?. (Bear in mind that thin ; building wus the juil niul tbo Jillor's '". V residence J The Moimon piisonern ' ' ' - wore not coullued In the barred cell . V T, If tbby had Incn it In doubtful if the . , .iiioli could li.ivu killed them. Tl.ey " t wero detained in tliu fr nt room up-'" up-'" stairs, and vcr under Kimrd. Theie , wero four piisoucrs, the two HinltliB, John Taylor, afierwurds President Taylor, Tay-lor, an 1 a man mimed Ilicbardeou (IUcliarUsj. Tho BmitliH stood charged with tho destruction of the Nuuvoo Expositor, a , paper that had charged Joseph Smith , nnd other Mormon U-nriara with polygn- " my,, and of being tiilty of-seducing ' women to their own use by, religious - 7 claims. Foster and I jiw wero tho pub- Jlsheri of the Kxpositor, and when , ' their oflleo was destroyed they took refuse In Carthage, wbeto they ol - tallied warr'ints nuuinst Joseph mid Hyrum Smith and others. The warrant was served on Joseph Smith, but Iip n- ' fused to obey, and the coustatde who served it was driven from Nniivoo. The county authorities culled out the militia to enforce the law ; tin: Murinoi a armed themselves, and n civil war seemed pending, w lien the governor of tho stato persuaded tho two Smiths to surrender themselves and stand trial, promising tUoni protection A guard whs aiationed around the jail, but tho " presumption now is that the guard was in sympathy with the attacking mob. The 27th day of June, 181 1, u mob of men with blackened faces r.nd with coats turned inside out, stealthily approached ap-proached near to the jail under cover of k nn adjacent grove. Emerging from tho grove tho mob lushed toward the jail HB with tho speed of the wind. The guards F' made no show of resistnuco 'Members of the mob ran upstairs, nnd tried to push in the door to tho room in which tho prisoners were coullned. Tho four men inside held tho door fast, A rifle bullet from one of the mob pierced the door nnd entered Hyrum Smith's hind. Ho died almost instantly. When Hyrum fell Joseph opened tho door nnd began to thool into the mob with nn t, tt old "pepper-box," tho only weapon of defense tbo four prisoners had. Ho , empti'-d Ids istol, ai d the inob enmo onngiiu. Ho ran to the east window, i ' , probably iutciriling to jump from It, but bo was shot twico wliilu he was partly out of the window, and lie fell to the ground and died. j ' The liloody work was done, and the i .fc'.tv, ' inobdisappcaied as maidenly ns it had -- ' come, Tlio mob was at the juil but n , minute or two, I , When tho door was llfrown opn by I ' Bmilb, Taylor crawled under the bed ' " , nnd,Hlcliardsou hid behind the door. ,' Taylor was wounded. t Tbo hole made through tho door by " . the hill let that killed Hyrum, though , tilled with putty, Is pli.in to bo seen. Tbo oilier bullet holes in tlio wall are covered with paper. i t Whatever Siuilli'rf ci linos werti be I '. was entitled to atrial. He voluntarily f s- surrendered on guarantee of protection, 5 . ,JS " to stnnd trial, and was wantonly and I needlssly murdered. There was plenty I of law hero to deal with Moruionlsm, ns f event proved. There was no exruso for the Caithngc murders. 1" Tho light qn the Mormons wnB n ruinous blow lo.tho material prospeilly of Hancock county. At the time ol the attack on tho Mormons tho population " of Nauvoo was 16,(100. It was then the .-? largest city iii tlio state by n consldcr-i consldcr-i '' nblo number and might now have been ' n city of u million ha'd not tbo Mormons I s ' deserted it. Keokuk Constitution Democrat. |