In D&C 135:2, the author of the text writes that:
John Taylor and Willard Richards, two
of the Twelve, were the only persons in the room at the time; the former was
wounded in a savage manner with four balls, but has since recovered; the
latter, through the providence of God, escaped, without even a hole in his
robe.
Commenting
on this passage, the editors of the Joseph Smith Papers wrote that:
This alludes to an earlier prophecy of
JS about Willard Richard that evidently was not record contemporaneously. In their
account of the murders of JS and Hyrum Smith, written in the 1850s, the Church
Historian’s Office staff recorded, “Dr. Richards’s escape was
miraculous, he being a very large man and in the midst of a shower of balls,
yet he stood unscathed with the exception of a ball taking away the lip end of
the lower part of his left ear, which fulfulled literally a prophecy which Joseph
made about four months previous, that time wd. come that the balls wd fly found
him like hail, and he sh[oul]d see his friends fall on the right and
the left, but that there shd. not be a hole in his robe if he wd.
continue to war it.” In 1861 Brigham Young recalled a promise that JS evidently
made to Richards in reference to special clothing Richards had been given as
part of a temple-related ordinance called the endowment. According to young, JS
said, “Willard, never go without this Garment on our body, for you will stand
where the balls will fly around you like hail, and men will fall dead by your
side and if you will never part with this garment, there never shall a ball
injure you.” (George A. Smith, Martyrdom Account, 24-28 June 1844, [22], draft,
Historians Office, JS History Draft Notes, CHL; Brigham Young, Discourse, [Salt
Lake City, Utah Territory], 14 July 1861-A, 6, Historian’s Office, Reports of
Speeches, 184501885, CHL.) (The Joseph Smith Papers—Documents: Volume 15: 16
May-28 June 1844, ed. Brett D. Dowdle, Adam H. Petty, J. Chase Kirkham,
Elizabeth A. Kuehn, David W. Grua, Matthew C. Godfrey [Salt Lake City: The
Church Historian’s Press, 2023], 516 n. 33])
I
say “the author” as opposed to John Taylor. As the editors of the Joseph Smith
Papers note:
The text of the announcement itself is
unattributed. During the twentieth century, it became commonplace for
Latter-day Saints to attribute the document’s authorship to John Taylor,
presumably because he was listed as the publisher and printer of the 1844 edition
of the Doctrine and Covenants and was in the jail with JS at the time of his
murder. But while Taylor likely provided input on the document, evidence
suggests it is unlikely he was the sole or even the principal author. Taylor
was still convalescing from the wounds he had sustained in the jail when the announcement
was written. Owing to the absence of any manuscript copies of this document, it
is not clear who wrote this account of the murders. While Willard Richards and
John Taylor were witnesses, the text speaks of both men in the third person.
The wording of the document, however, closely matches phrases and ideas that
were previously included in editorials and other accounts of the murders
written during late June and early July 1844, including material by Richards
and Taylor. Other contributors to these account were William W. Phelps and Parley
P. Pratt. The document also seems to have drawn ideas from two poems—one composed
by Eliza R. Snow and the other by an anonymous writer—in the wake of the
murders.
These textual similarities suggest
that the announcement was either authored by a single person wo incorporated the
ideas of these other authors into the document or composed by multiple individuals.
Due to Taylor’s convalescence, the individuals who were most likely to have
authored this announcement are Willard Richards and William W. Phelps. This account
seems to draw upon Richards’s journal and his published eyewitness account of the
murders for details about the event. Furthermore, on 7 July, Richards evidently
told Taylor that he “would assist in the times & seasons offices,” which
suggests that he was at least somewhat involved in the church’s publishing efforts
while Taylor was healing. Accordingly, even if Richards did not write the
account, he was almost certainly consulted about its contents. Similarly,
Phelps was heavily engaged in the day-to-day work of the printer’s office
during this period. Records seem to indicate that he took on much of the responsibility
for the 1844 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants in Taylor’s absence. Additionally,
Phelps helped prepare the issues of the Nauvoo Neighbor and the Times
and Seasons that directly addressed the murders and was a signatory on two
published letters to the Saints on the subject.
The similarities to other published works
also seem to suggest that the announcement was most likely composed sometime
during or after the middle of July, following the publication of most of the compositions
with similar passages. Furthermore, evidence indicates that the new edition of the
Doctrine and Covenants had become publicly available by early September.
Because the announcement was typeset, printed, and bound with the volumes of
the Doctrine and Covenants by early September, it seems likely that its authors
had composed the document by mid-August. (Ibid., 511-12)
Further Reading:
