It was midnight when they entered the town, but a militia company encamped on the public square--the Carthage Greys--were aroused and gave vent to profane threats as the company passed, of which the following is a specimen: "Where's the d----d prophet? Stand away you McDonough boys and let us shoot the d----d Mormons! G----d d----n you, old Joe, we've got you now! Clear the way, and let us have a view of Joe Smith, the prophet of God! He has seen the last of Nauvoo! We'll use him up now."
A crowd followed the party from the public square, and hung round the Hamilton House yelling and cursing like demons. Governor Ford pushed up a window and thus addressed them: "Gentlemen, I know your anxiety to see Mr. Smith, which is natural enough, but it is quite too late tonight for you to have that opportunity; but I assure you, gentlemen, you shall have that privilege tomorrow morning, as I will cause him to pass before the troops upon the square, and I now wish you, with this assurance, quietly and peaceably to return to your quarters." There was a faint "Hurrah for Tom Ford," and the crowd withdrew.
1. It was on the occasion of meeting Captain Dunn and his company that Joseph uttered those prophetic words--"I am going like a lamb to the slaughter, but I am calm as a summer's morning. I have a conscience void of offense toward God and toward all men. I shall die innocent, and it shall yet be said of me, 'he was murdered in cold blood.'" Hyrum Smith that morning, before leaving Nauvoo, and in spite of an assumed cheerfulness, had also left evidence that the fate awaiting himself and brother at Carthage had been foreshadowed in his mind. He read a passage in the Book of Mormon, near the close of the 12th Chapter of Ether:
"And it came to pass that I prayed unto the Lord that he would give unto the Gentiles grace that they might have charity. And it came to pass that the Lord said unto me, if they have not charity, it mattereth not unto thee, thou hast been faithful; wherefore thy garments shall be made clean. And because thou hast seen thy weakness thou shalt be made strong, even unto the sitting down in the place which I have prepared in the mansions of my Father. And now I----bid farewell unto the Gentiles, yea, and also unto my brethren whom I love until we shall meet before the judgment-seat of Christ, where all men shall know that my garments are not spotted with your blood."