Why was no one ever convicted in the slaying of Joseph Smith?

Question

Just wondering, since so many seem to be so beside themselves at the whole Mountain Meadows Massacre situation.

Mr. Rogers: Don't accuse me of anything, rejoicing in someone's death isn't Christlike. Also, go put your purple sweater on and find another neighborhood to play in, your response is unnecessary.

SirNetwork: I know why Joseph Smith was in jail. Thanks for that new insight.

SirNetwork: after re-reading your response, I retract my above statement, you have my apologies.

Answer 1

Remember the governor had passed a law making it legal to kill a Mormon. How ever many people try to deny that fact its true. He was murdered and when the time comes everyone who had a hand in that and in the Mountain Meadows Massacre will all be accountable for their bad choices.

Answer 2

Joseph Smith was held in the Carthage jail on the charge of inciting a riot. (link below)
The Carthage Greys, an Illinois militia, were in the area. They were very hostile toward the Latter-Day saints at Nauvoo, had been insubordinate toward a commanding office and were disbanded by the Illinois governor... in Carthage! This left an angry, heavily-armed, anti-LDS mob of 300 people about a mile from where Joseph Smith was being held.

The Carthage Greys did the killing when they stormed the jail.
The small group of soldiers posted at the jail by the governor stepped aside without a fight; the Carthage Grays would have annihilated the posted guards if they hadn't. No one contest these facts.

What people don't understand today is that there was neither the will nor the ability to prosecute those responsible.
The LDS were seen as a major political threat in Illinois and were unpopular. Bringing 300 men to trial in the 1840's in what was basically a frontier state would have been an unprecendeted feat. Also, it was impossible to assign blame since all wore facepaint and the leadership of the militia had been disbanded.

The world is not just. It was not just for Hyrum and Joseph Smith, the Latter-Day Saints, or the Missouri settlers who travelled through Utah with members of the Carthage Grays during a state of war.

However, God is just. Those responsible for both attacks will be held accountable, no matter what titles they held.

Answer 3

The leaders of the mob thought that the Church would disappear when Joseph Smith died. When the Church reorganized and began to complete the temple, the hatred just grew. The counties surrounding Nahvoo became even more militant. There was no way that authorities were going to support the Mormons by trying the murderers.

In the case of Mountain Meadows, it was not a perfect example, but there was a trial, a conviction and an execution.

Answer 4

I'd assume the local law enforcement community was either in on it, or afraid the mob mentality would target them if they actually found someone guilty of the murders. Somehow, it seems hard to consider Illinois as such a lawless place, but that was almost 200 years ago.

Answer 5

there were too many people there, it was a mob of hundreds of people. and imasis2 he was not killed for smuggleing a gun into jail, he was killed because he reinstated the true church and people were afraid of it so they hated him for it, and if you had been tarred and feathered, beaten up, prosicuted, threatened, had your home burned, had exicution orders against those in your religion, and so on and so forth like Joseph Smith did then, you would carry around a gun too!

Answer 6

I'm sure you'll get a couple answers saying it was his own people who killed him.

gw

Hey Imasis2,
when a big mob of people, who are not jailers or guards or anything like that, kill someone in jail, that is murder.
But if that is too hard for you to understand, I don't know what to tell you.

Answer 7

Comparing (or Justifying) Mountain Meadows because some mob killed a criminal in a gunfight at the Carthage Jail shows how little you comprehend about Justice. If the LDS were the one and only true church, they would have handed over the criminals who massacred 140 people in cold blood whom they had illegally attacked and captured.

Christ said if you follow him to expect persecutions and martyrdom as part of the territory. You should have rejoiced over Smiths demise and forgiven his killers. Doing otherwise is not Christlike.

Answer 8

Because the people at the time didn't see it as murder. The old "mob mentality" excuse. wacky, huh?

Answer 9

Joseph Smith had a gun that was smuggled into him. WHen prisoners and convicts get guns in prison they are usually shot. This is not considered murder.

If he had a gun, anyone that shot him was acting in self defense. The mob wouldn't have been after him if the Mormons were not stealing wives and daughters and destroying local businesses and newspapers.