Memorable moments: 'behind the iron bars'
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In October 1963, Elder Howard W. Hunter, then of the Council of the Twelve, and his wife, Claire, attended the dedication of the bureau of information at Carthage Jail in Carthage, Ill., and a conference of Mid-American mission presidents and their wives in nearby Nauvoo.
One evening, the wives of the nine mission presidents stayed overnight at the home of John Taylor, while Elder Hunter and the brethren slept in the Carthage Jail where the Prophet Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith were martyred by a mob in 1844.Among the brethren was Pres. M. Ross Richards of the Gulf States Mission, a grandson of Willard Richards, who was with the Prophet Joseph and his brother Hyrum on the day of the martyrdom. Pres. Ross Richards died in 1990. His wife, Marie Richards, recalled the evening Elder Hunter and the others spent at Carthage.
"On the second night of the conference, the men took pillows and blankets, and they went to the Carthage Jail," she said.
Sister Richards remembered her husband later telling her: "When we got to Carthage, we knew we wouldn't be sleeping very much. We talked at length into the night about the historical event that transpired there."
Elder Hunter wrote of the experience: "After we got ready for bed, we sat in a circle on the beds in the main room of the upper floor of the jail and talked about the events which took place in this room many years ago.
"[Pres. Richards] told us of what happened on that day and the details of the tragic event. In the dimly lighted room we could see the stains on the floor from Hyrum's blood, and near us was the window from which Joseph fell after the shots were fired.
"We sang all the verses of the song, `A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief,' which the Prophet loved and which he asked John Taylor to sing for him just before death brought to a close his mortal mission.
"I will never forget this occasion with the brethren in the upper room.
"President Carroll W. Smith [of the Western Canadian Mission] gave the prayer and we retired for the remainder of the night. He and I slept in the inner jail behind the iron bars."
Sources: Howard W. Hunter, by Eleanor Knowles, pp. 180-181; Church News interview with Marie Richards; Church News, Nov. 2, 1963, pp. 8-9.
