Separating facts from fiction about Prophet's death

PROVO — The size of the bullet hole in John Taylor's pocket watch that was with him in Carthage Jail was the last detail Joseph Lynn Lyon needed in his research about the 1816 muskets that were likely used by the mob.

The pocket watch had been damaged during the shootings that resulted in the deaths of Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum and the hands had stopped at 5:16.

The answer he received: "There isn't a hole in John Taylor's watch."

That started a new search to separate the facts from the myths surrounding the events of that day in Carthage, Ill., on June 27, 1834, Lyon said during a BYU Campus Education Week presentation on Aug. 16.

"Some well meaning people want to enhance such an event by adding the miraculous," Lyon said. "While others want to attack it to destroy faith."

Fortunately, there is still evidence from the shootings, including the jail with the original doors and the room still intact, the death masks of Joseph and Hyrum, and photographs of their skulls, Hyrum's clothes and watch, John Taylor's watch and statements from those who survived or treated the men.

John Taylor's watch

To see how a watch would withstand being shot, Lyon, a University of Utah professor, began buying old watches for a Mythbuster-style test.

With a similar caliber musket that the attackers would have used and uncooked pork chops, Lyon simulated distances of one foot to 100 feet and a grazing shot.

The watches were all severely damaged and blown apart, Lyon said.

Hyrum's watch, which was hit by a musket ball that went through his body, was severely dented and split.

"Had John Taylor's watch been struck, there would be visible damage," Lyon said.

More likely, the pocket watch's glass was broken when John Taylor likely fell after he was shot.

The jail

The safety of the prisoners was the jailer's responsibility, Lyon said.

"He had some real concerns," Lyon said. An eight-man guard from the Carthage Greys was assigned protection detail.

The jailer had moved his prisoners to the second floor bedroom so firing through the ventilation system would be impossible, Lyon said.

The mob included primarily men from the Warsaw, Ill., militia, who had been discharged that morning, and at the time, militias were issued 1816 muskets that had a .69-calliber bullet and the muskets were 57.5 inches long. A few muskets had bayonets attached to them.

This size bullet matches the holes in the door and in Hyrum's clothes, Lyon said.

"That puts a limit of how many can fit in a tight space," Lyon said of the length of the musket and how it fired. "You can't get real close without some risk."