I am Ryan McKnight. I'm Kara Santa Maria. I am Christopher Smith. Hi, I'm Andrew Torres. This is Naked Mormonism. The Serial Mormon History Podcast. The bodies had been prepared, the death masks had been cast, the people had learned the truth,

the prophet and patriarch had been shot to death by anti-Mormons.

The bodies were placed in coffins, which were covered with

black velvet fastened with brass nails. They placed a glass lid over the face of each body to protect

it, and the coffin was lined with white cambric. Then Emma and Mary, Joes and Hiram's first wives, were allowed into the mansion room to see their husbands.

The children came along to.

Quote, Emma, who was at the time pregnant, was then permitted to see the bodies.

On first seeing the corpse of her husband, she screamed and fell, but was supported by Dimmock

B. Huntington. She then fell upon his face, kissing him, calling him by name, and begged of him

to speak to her once more. The scene was too affecting almost to be born. Mary Hiram's wife was

also admitted, and manifested calmness and composure throughout the trying scene.

The children of the martyr of the martyrs prophet and patriarch were then admitted to see the bodies,

when the scene beggared description being perfectly heart-rending." The next morning at 8 a.m., the bodies were placed in the main living area of the Navu

mansion, and the doors

were opened to receive the morning procession. Estimates claim about 8,000 to 10,000 Mormons

filed through the Navu Mansion on June 29, 1844, to view the bodies. People took these deaths

in many different ways, and we're lucky that some of them took the time to sit down and express their thoughts in writing.

So let's spend some time with these folks.

Let's start with Emma Hale-Smith and Mary Fielding Smith.

Of course, Emma was the first wife of Joseph.

Mary was Hiram's first wife.

Neither of these women wrote any of their own thoughts at the time,

...