As Joseph left for the Carthage jail "Emma's eyes filled with tears. 'Oh Joseph,' she said. . .'you are coming back!'" [1] Joseph returned twice more before saying his final good-bye. On 27 June 1844 inside a Carthage jail, Joseph and his companions languished in the afternoon heat. John Taylor later recorded,
All of us felt. . .a remarkable depression of spirits. In consonance with those feelings I sang a song, that had lately been introduced into Nauvoo, entitled A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief. . . .After a lapse of some time, Brother Hyrum requested me again to sing that song. I replied, "Brother Hyrum, I do not feel like singing;" when he remarked, "Oh, never mind; commence singing, and you will get the spirit of it." At his request I did so." [2]
Some time later, the mob stormed the jail and shot into a small room. When the fire and smoke subsided Joseph and Hyrum lay dead. Joseph's body was brought back to Nauvoo in a "rough pine casket" [3] for a proper funeral. At the funeral Emma, the young widow ". . .sank upon [her husband's] body. Suddenly her grief found vent, and sighs and groans and lamentations filled the room." [4]