Dr. John P. Livginstone: In the lower southwest corner of the John and Elsa Johnson home is their formal parlor. The finest bed of the home would be in this room and this would’ve been the guest room for Joseph and Emma Smith. And of course it might seem unusual to have a bed in here, but when you had visitors, why, they would stay in the finest room in the house. It would be considered a great honor to have Joseph and Emma right here in this formal parlor area.1
Dr. Craig J. Ostler: On the night of the 24th of March 1832 one of the saddest events in the history of the church occurred here that has gone forth as a story speaking of Joseph’s faith and determination and even his sacrifice that he and Emma make.2 Apparently, as they were in this room that evening, Joseph and Emma had retired to bed. They had earlier adopted twins, a little boy and a little girl, whose mother, Julia Murdock, had died in giving birth to them about the same time that Emma had given birth to twins on the Isaac Morley farm, which also died within a few hours of their birth. The twins had measles at that time from what we understand, and Emma had just nursed the little boy, Joseph, and was trying to get him to sleep, and she asked Joseph, her husband, the Prophet, to lay in the little trundle bed and Joseph was there. Emma was in the bed itself, the little girl nursing her, and trying to get her settled down. Joseph laid there with the little boy on top of his chest from the best we can surmise.3 It was at that time then they heard some knocking on the window.
Dr. John P. Livingstone: It would appear that they would have ignored the knocking on the window, but shortly afterwards, the front door burst open. Men come in, they grab Joseph by the hair, by his clothes. As they are taking him out of course Emma is screaming, you can imagine babies crying, it’s quite a violent event. As Joseph’s going out the door, we think maybe feet first, he may have gotten a foot loose and kicked an individual who hits the ground with a significant violence.4 But out they go, the individuals have already taken Sidney Rigdon from the log cabin across the road. They’re dragging him behind a horse, his heels are kind of high, his head is hitting the ground, it’s going to cause some significant trauma.5
Dr. Craig J. Ostler: Joseph believes Sidney Rigdon is dead when he sees him laying there on the ground: he has been knocked out cold. And Joseph then would imagine to himself, that’s probably what they are going to do to him too, that they have taken him to kill him.6
Dr. John P. Livingstone: You can imagine how scary that whole thing is. Of course they grab Joseph, tear his clothing off of him. They’re pouring a tar, it’s probably not a hot-hot tar, but more of a pine tar, on him. A pillow of feathers is provided,7 whether he got completely covered or not so much we really don’t know, but later on after the event when he comes, covered with this tar, his wife emma thinks he is covered with blood, and of course it’s extremely traumatic for her.8 But Joseph is given a blanket, he puts that around himself and comes back into the house. During that event, they had tried to pour some poison into his mouth, it chipped a tooth, Joseph speaks with kind of a whistle on his S’s ever after that.9
Dr. Craig J. Ostler: It’s unfortunate they had planned so well, these men who came as the mob, and that they had actually boarded some of the doors so people couldn’t get out of the home to go help Joseph and Sidney at that time.10 They get the courage from a bottle of liquor as they come as drunken men.11 In fact one of them falls upon Joseph and begins to scratch him and tells him “That’s the way the holy ghost falls on folks”.12 This definitely was an attack by those who wanted to drive Joseph and Sidney out of the area, hoping that they could rid themselves of what had been taking place of Mormonism that had moved into the area. There’s some indication also that when Joseph comes into the home then he’s followed by Brother Johnson, and that Brother Johnson had gone out to help him, but when he was coming back toward the home, they mistook him, those who were outside looking for Joseph, as one of the mobbers, and actually took one of those big apple sticks and whacked him so hard it broke his collarbone.13
Dr. John P. Livingstone: They spent the rest of the night trying to get this tar off of Joseph Smith. You can imagine the sticky sort of pine gum, pine tar and using turpentine or some other kind of solvent which would’ve been very agitating to Joseph’s skin. But nevertheless, the next day, Joseph meets his preaching appointment, speaks to the people, and many are amazed that he is able to keep that appointment and to deliver the message that he was meant to deliver the next day.14
Dr. Craig J. Ostler: And that occurred in a little school house not far from here where he addressed them that morning.15 We would imagine that those who were in the mob who were in the congregation that we have report of, must’ve been amazed at the man’s faith that he would continue in preaching the gospel as he had been commanded and set apart to do.
The twins had measles at that time from what we understand, and put them in a very weakened state. The little boy, Joseph Smith Murdock, apparently catches a chill in that cold march night air, that adds to his weakness from the measles, and he dies just a couple of days later after that.16 Some of them looked at little Joseph Smith Murdock as the first martyr of the restoration.
1There are differing interpretations of which room had been provided for Joseph, Emma, and the twins. Two of these are the formal parlor and the work, or summer, kitchen. Currently, the onsite presentation of taking Joseph from the John and Elsa Johnson Home to be tarred and feathered utilizes the formal parlor. Accordingly, our video presentation follows the onsite presentation. For those who would like to read more on this topic, see Mark Lyman Staker, Hearken, O Ye People: The Historical Setting of Joseph Smith’s Ohio Revelations (Greg Kofford Books: Salt Lake City, 2009), 356-364.
2Milton V. Backman, Jr., The Heavens Resound: A History of the Latter-day Saints in Ohio, (Salt Lake City, Deseret Book Company, 1983), 97.
3“History, 1838–1856, volume A-1 [23 December 1805–30 August 1834],” p. 204-205, The Joseph Smith Papers, https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-1838-1856-volume-a-1-23-december-1805-30-august-1834/210
4“History, 1838–1856, volume A-1 [23 December 1805–30 August 1834],” p. 205, The Joseph Smith Papers, http://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-1838-1856-volume-a-1-23-december-1805-30-august-1834/211
5“History, 1838–1856, volume A-1 [23 December 1805–30 August 1834],” p. 208, The Joseph Smith Papers, http://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-1838-1856-volume-a-1-23-december-1805-30-august-1834/214
6“History, 1838–1856, volume A-1 [23 December 1805–30 August 1834],” p. 206, The Joseph Smith Papers, http://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-1838-1856-volume-a-1-23-december-1805-30-august-1834/212?highlight=to%20extricate%20myself%2C%20but%20only%20cleared%20one%20leg
7Mark Lyman Staker, Hearken, O Ye People: The Historical Setting of Joseph Smith’s Ohio Revelations (Greg Kofford Books: Salt Lake City, 2009), 351.
8“History, 1838–1856, volume A-1 [23 December 1805–30 August 1834],” p. 207, The Joseph Smith Papers, https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-1838-1856-volume-a-1-23-december-1805-30-august-1834/213
9Luke Johnson, “The History of Luke Johnson,” 834.
10“History, 1838–1856, volume A-1 [23 December 1805–30 August 1834],” p. 207, The Joseph Smith Papers, https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-1838-1856-volume-a-1-23-december-1805-30-august-1834/213
11Mark Lyman Staker, Hearken, O Ye People: The Historical Setting of Joseph Smith’s Ohio Revelations (Greg Kofford Books: Salt Lake City, 2009), 349.
12“History, 1838–1856, volume A-1 [23 December 1805–30 August 1834],” p. 207, The Joseph Smith Papers, https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-1838-1856-volume-a-1-23-december-1805-30-august-1834/213
13“History, 1838–1856, volume A-1 [23 December 1805–30 August 1834],” p. 207, The Joseph Smith Papers, http://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-1838-1856-volume-a-1-23-december-1805-30-august-1834/213
14Mark Lyman Staker, Hearken, O Ye People: The Historical Setting of Joseph Smith’s Ohio Revelations (Greg Kofford Books: Salt Lake City, 2009), 354.
15Ibid.
16“History, 1838–1856, volume A-1 [23 December 1805–30 August 1834],” p. 209, The Joseph Smith Papers, http://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-1838-1856-volume-a-1-23-december-1805-30-august-1834/215
