"Within a few years of the martyrdom, Gov. Thomas Ford recognized that the events that unfolded in Carthage might transform a common county jail into sacred space ... that Nauvoo and the Carthage Jail may become holy and venerable names, places of classic interest like Jerusalem."The governor was right, explained Brian Q. Cannon, a BYU history professor speaking at the Mormon History Association conference May 22 on "Long Shall His Blood ... Stain Illinois: Carthage Jail in Mormon Memory." Carthage Jail became a sacred memorial for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.Cannon said that the faithful must determine three points in commemorating a tragic spot: whether to remember at all; if so, how to remember; and what the resulting memorialization means.And the question of how to remember what happened at Carthage Jail has evolved throughout the ensuing years. "Many Mormons, like Joseph Fielding, initially regarded Carthage Jail as a cursed site ... nonetheless they were drawn to the site because of the religious significance of what had occurred there."Fifteen months after the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum, 60 residents of Nauvoo, including Brigham Young, Willard Richards and John Taylor, traveled to Carthage for some legal business and decided to visit the jail. They found "the walls pocked with bullet marks and the stains of spattered blood on the floor of the jail." Richards and Taylor described what happened that afternoon, pointing to where the brethren had stood to protect themselves. Because of their re-enactment, Mormons have a clearer picture of what actually transpired.In the next few years, other Mormons visited Carthage Jail, asking to see where the martyrdom took place. One young British Mormon artist came to the jail in 1853.Cannon explained that "a girl showed him the bullet hole in the door. She told him that blood stains were visible on the floor underneath the carpet." This young man said "he was glad to leave because two lives unatoned for, with blood crying from the ground, made this spot hateful."In 1885, Franklin D. Richards and his son visited. Richards wrote that the tour brought "a wilderness of contradictory emotions. One the one hand, the building seems a place of peace. On the other hand, he was killed with solemnity."In 1903, the current owner of Carthage Jail decided to sell it to the LDS Church for $4,000. "Their decision guaranteed that the jail would be preserved," explained Cannon, "and Latter-day Saints would control any on-site interpretation of the martyrdom."More and more Mormons started visiting the jail even though the church still kept it as a private residence. In 1904, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir went through and in 1905 a mission president organized a conference in Nauvoo and Carthage with a visit to the jail included. In 1906, President Joseph F. Smith toured the jail on his way home from his European tour and "wept uncontrollably at the site of the dark stain of his father's blood."In 1934, mission president George Romney first assigned a missionary couple to the jail. Cannon described this as "the first time that the Latter-day Saints began using the jail as a base for proselytizing." As non-LDS people began to tour the jail in addition to the ever-increasing Mormon tourists, the church provided a pamphlet about the jail with the statement "the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith make this jail a sacred shrine."Bryant Hinckley, the next mission president following Romney, enlarged the restoration efforts in Carthage and Nauvoo in 1938. Joseph and Eunice McRae were called to lead up the restoration of Carthage Jail: "they explored every nook and cranny. Using paint remover and steel wool, they uncovered the original woodwork in the interior. They excavated the original well, decorated the interior of the jail with period furniture and landscaped the grounds." They continued to take visitors through the jail, emphasizing the blood stain still visible on the floor boards.In 1963, the LDS Church built the current visitors center next to the jail and Howard W. Hunter dedicated the building. Instead of dwelling on the blood stain of the Prophet, the apostle said the visitor's center and jail "were not reminders of a crime, but instead church leaders intended them to be monuments to the two men who sealed their testimonies with their blood."By 1978, the focus of Carthage Jail missionaries shifted even more toward missionary work. The new pamphlet said, "The church survived the death of its leader and today offers to the world the gospel of Jesus Christ, which brings fulfillment, satisfaction and joy in this life and the next to those who obey the Lord's commandments."Soon after this, the president of the Nauvoo Restoration project, J. LeRoy Kimball, directed the missionaries serving at Carthage to remove the protective covering over the purported bloodstain on the floor. He also told the missionaries to no longer point it out to visitors. What happens next, Cannon explained, was that the story became garbled as subsequent missionaries explained that President Kimball had provided this direction. But it was J. LeRoy Kimball, president of the Nauvoo Restoration project, and not LDS Church President Spencer W. Kimball.In the 1980s, plans were discussed and then finalized for improvement to the visitors center and overall jail experience, with an emphasis on satisfying both Mormon and non-LDS visitors with historical accuracy. Under the direction of Elder Loren C. Dunn, a film was produced for the center, and while the death of Joseph and Hyrum would receive proper attention, "the theme should be the message and the life of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Visitors should come away with a thoughtful understanding rather than a fixation on dramatic violence."In 1989, President Gordon B. Hinckley dedicated the improvement to the visitors center and jail, and said that the message of the jail's restoration was "one of healing and reconciliation."Finally, Cannon explains, the transformation of Carthage from a negative reminder of the martyrdom to a celebration of Joseph and Hyrum's life continued into the 2000s. In 2004, the Illinois House of Representatives "approved a resolution expressing regret for the assassination of Joseph and Hyrum Smith at Carthage ... the stain of the Prophet's blood on the floor of Carthage had nearly worn away."
E-mail: ejensen@desnews.com