Ryan Reeder
History 390R
Derr and Esplin
February 7, 2001
1. Why did the mob disperse after assassinating Joseph Smith? More specifically, I understand that the generally accepted idea is that someone shouted that "the Mormons are coming" and they ran away in fear. Though the story is more discredited, some accounts, including one of C. C. A. Christensen's "Mormon Panorama" paintings, claim that a shaft of light focused on the prophet, which sufficiently frightened the mob that they left without dismembering the corpse. What is the documentation for each of these accounts, and why is the second generally not accepted?
2. How well do Emma Smith and Eliza R. Snow typify the Saints that stayed with the Twelve and the Saints that stayed behind? What was their relationship before and after Joseph took Eliza as a plural wife, and as members of the Relief Society Presidency?
3. What has the evolution been in the doctrine of Sisters blessing the sick? Discussion: Joseph said that the practice could be no more condemned than washing the face of the afflicted with water, and it was apparently practiced from time to time in Nauvoo and Utah. I am aware of an instance in my own family, for example, where my grandfather was shot when he was about fifteen years old (about 1936) and my great-grandmother administered to him. She died in 1987, my grandfather is nearly eighty years old. Then, apparently, Joseph Fielding Smith discouraged the practice in 1946. What was the doctrinal justification for doing so? How often has the practice continued since that time?
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