Martyrs don't die in shootouts! Sacrificial lambs aren't armed! J. Smith fired 2 weapons as he diedPlease cite your source because that is not mentioned in D&C 135. In History of the Church, it is stated that Joseph discharged his six-shooter (single weapon) into the hallway, some barrels of which misfired. As he was not alone, his older brother Hyrum already killed by two balls, Elder Taylor hit by four balls, but alive, and Dr. Richards escaped unharmed. Obviously the Prophet was fighting to protect himself AND others in the room, two of whom were visitors and not under arrest. BTW, legally, mobs don't go around storming jails and executing innocent prisoners. That happens in Islamic countries.
Well, you caused me to review my sources. And I do need to correct one thing -- which I changed in the tagline. Smith indeed had two weapons; but only fired one of the two. (Apparently, the mob didn't give him time)
Here's the source: John Hay Atlantic Monthly article December 1869 671-678
Hay wrote:
Smith had TWO loaded six-barrelled revolvers in his room. How a man on trial for capital offences came to be supplied with such luxuries is a mystery that perhaps only one man could fully have solved; and as General Deming, the Jack-Mormon sheriff, died soon after, and left no explanation of the matter, investigation is effectually baffled. But the four shots which I have chronicled, and two which had no billet, exhausted one pistol, and the enemy gave Smith no time to use the other. Severely wounded as he was, he ran to the window, which was open to receive the fresh June air, and half leaped, half fell, into the jail yard below. With his last dying energies he gathered himself up, and leaned in a sitting posture against the rude stone well-curb. His stricken condition, his vague wandering glances, excited no pity in the mob thirsting for his life. They had not seen the handsome fight he had made in the jail; there was no appeal to the border chivalry (there is chivalry on the borders, as in all semi-barbarous regions). A squad of Missourians who were standing by the fence levelled their pieces at him, and, before they could see him again for the smoke they made, Joe Smith was dead.
In History of the Church, it is stated that Joseph discharged his six-shooter (single weapon) into the hallway, some barrels of which misfired. As he was not alone, his older brother Hyrum already killed by two balls, Elder Taylor hit by four balls, but alive, and Dr. Richards escaped unharmed. (Christopher Dion)
Well, note what one faithful Latter-Day Saint said:
"Of the three barrels discharged by Joseph, it is believed he hit three men: an Irishman named Wells-who was in the mob from his love of a brawl-in the arm; Voorhees-an oversized kid from Bear Creek known for his lack of good sense-in the shoulder; and a man named Gallagher-a Southerner from the Mississippi Bottom-in the face." "Two other men were known to get hit in the hall, one a man named Townsend from Fort Madison, Iowa Territory, who died nine months later from the arm wound that wouldn't heal, and another named Mills, who was shot in the arm." - Elder Reed Blake, 24 Hours to Martyrdom, p. 129
You said some "barrels" (plural) of Smith's gun "misfired." If at least two barrels misfired from a six-shooter, how did Smith shoot five people?
Some sources chronicle four of the six shots by Smith.
Please also note: While Hyrum Smith was indeed shot in the face from the front by one of the mob shooters...a lingering Q still isn't explained: Who shot Hyrum Smith in the back?
From a Mormon author: "...it was found that the wound that killed Hyrum was sustained in his face while he was apparently holding the door against the mobbers. This was verified by one of the survivors, Willard Richards. Also discovered, however, was a wound in his lower back. The mystery of that wound is hard to explain if he was shot in the face and, falling backward, never moved as the survivors later testified. One report state he was shot in the back by a rifleman outside the window, but this is not a credible report since the...room is on the second floor and the door is some distance from the window. Other wounds found on his body were in front, sustained as he lay on the floor. But that back wound, after 160 years, is still a mystery." (Lds author George W. Givens, 500 More Little-Known Facts in Mormon History, Bonneville Books, 2004, p. 46)
I surmise that one of those supposed "misfires" from Joseph Smith actually hit his brother in the back about the same time -- Hyrum was fired on front from the front.
I've seen Web links of pictures of the scene... There’s no way somebody could have shot Hyrum Smith in the back as he was near the door on the second floor. The only person who had a weapon within range was his brother, Joseph. And they were receiving shots from just outside the door, where Joseph Smith may have wanted to return a volley. Only perhaps he hit brother Hyrum instead.
John Taylor, who was in the room, later recounted: "I shall never forget the deep feeling of sympathy and regard manifested in the countenance of Brother Joseph as he drew nigh to Hyrum, and, leaning over him, exclaimed, 'Oh! my poor, dear brother Hyrum!' He, however, instantly arose, and with a firm, quick step, and a determined expression of countenance, approached the door…
Taylor then says Smith “discharged” three barrels through a cracked door,, snapping the pistol six times. But what if he miscounted or simply assumed Smith was firing all that he had? And what if all he had was 5 shots/5 barrels left – because he had already shot his brother?