80 BIOGRAPHY AND
with intelligence of the martyrdom, and with counsel and instructions to the Saints and Elders.
The news of this sad event, of course, came wholly unexpected, and struck me with profound astonishment and grief, which no language can portray. As a partial expression of my thoughts and feelings, I quote the following lines, written by my sister:
THE ASSASSINATION OF GENERALS JOSEPH SMITH AND
HYRUM SMITH,
who were massacred by a mob, in carthage, hancock
co., ill., on the 27th of june, 1844.
And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow-servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.—Rev., vi; 9, 10, 11.
Ye heavens, attend! Let all the earth give ear!
Let Gods and seraphs, men and angels hear:
The worlds on high—the universe shall know,
What awful scenes are acted here below!
Had Nature's self a heart, her heart would bleed
At the recital of so foul a deed;
For never, since the Son of God was slain,
Has blood so noble flowed from human vein,
As that which now on God for vengeance calls
From "Freedom's" ground—from Carthage prison walls.
Oh, Illinois! thy soil has drunk the blood
Of Prophets, martyred for the truth of God.
