There’s nothing that said it was a *lynch mob*. Now, since Smith tried to impose martial law illegally
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Joseph_Smith,_Jr.
Smith declared martial law on June 18 and called out the Nauvoo Legion, an organized city militia of about 5,000 men, to protect Nauvoo from outside violence.
On June 25, 1844, Joseph and Hyrum Smith, along with the other fifteen city council members and some friends, surrendered to Carthage constable William Bettisworth on the original charge of riot. Almost immediately Joseph and Hyrum were charged with treason against the state of Illinois for declaring martial law in Nauvoo, by a warrant founded upon the oaths of A. O. Norton and Augustine Spencer. At a preliminary hearing that afternoon the city council members were released on $500 bonds, pending later trial. The judge ordered Joseph and Hyrum Smith to be held in jail until they could be tried for treason, a capital offense.
Joseph Smith, Taylor, and Richards attempted to defend themselves. Taylor and Richards attempted to use walking sticks in order to deflect the guns as they were thrust inside the cell, from behind the door. Smith used a small pepper-box pistol that Cyrus Wheelock had given him when Wheelock had visited the jail earlier that day. Three of the six barrels misfired, but the other three shots injured at least three of the attackers.
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Seems to me that the people who reacted against Smith’s attempts at tyranny (aka: the mob) did exactly what you have been know to say that you’d do against those who came after you.
So why are you condemning the the general populace for the actions you’d take yourself, by your own words.
Protestant lynch mob.