September 1, 1857: Tuesday
to day we received the Utah and California mails. I
received 4 No’s of the W[estern] Standard and 4 of the D[eseret] News. also letters
from Aunt [Mercy] Thompson. Salt Lake—Bro W[illiam] J. Harris, New York, good
news. Cousin Samuel [H. B. Smith] has gon[e] to England—on a mission which I
rejoice to hear. also a long letter from my cousin Josephine Smith, California.
She writes to me as if I were some Laquey [lacky] or a being [crossed out]
unconscious of my real existance, and did not know but that which every Body
said was thus and so, because they said so! we also received the news of the
meloncally death of Prest. Parley P. Pratt. he was murdered by a Curs [sic] of
the name of [Hector] McLane, near Vanburn, Arcansus [Arkansas], was shot with 6
balls which only made holes in is coat, then stab[b]ed, twice by McLane. one of
the incissures went directly to the heart, notwithstanding [this] he lived
several hours and answered many questions. to endever to speak my feelings upon
the subject would be fearful. vague would be the attempt. he died a martyer for
the cause of Truth. he has conquered the world, Death and the Devil. and [h]is
name is ratified in the Arch Ives of Heaven and shall endure to all Eternity,
and grow brighter and more pure with the elapse of years, while those of his
murder[er]s’ shall rot and sease for ever! spent the day reading, conversing
with Bro. [Simpson M.] Molen & c. &c. also [received] a letter from
Jane [Fisher]. (Joseph F. Smith Journal, September 1, 1857, in “My Candid
Opinion:” The Sandwich Island Diaries of Joseph F. Smith 1856-1857, ed.
Nathaniel R. Ricks [Salt Lake City: The Smith-Petit Foundation, 2011], 122)
