This painting is titled "All They Want Is
Hyrum and Myself."
It takes place in the upstairs bedroom of
the Carthage Jail in Carthage, Illinois on
June 27, 1844.
A few days before the martyrdom, Joseph had
said: "All they want is Hyrum and myself."
It was the belief of Willard Richards, and
it is my belief, that the Prophet jumped out
the window not to save his own life but to
save the lives of his brethren.
Clearly, there was death at the door.
Joseph had just seen Hyrum shot through the
thin panel and his body still lay on the floor.
Clearly, there was death at the window.
John Taylor had just tried to leap from the
window moments before and had been shot four
times.
Balls were flying through the window, shattering
the class and the sill.
The Prophet still managed to cross the room,
push himself up on the wide sill and dive,
probably headfirst, through the open bottom
half of the window.
All this was done against the force of musket
balls that pierced him twice in the back,
once in the right collarbone, and once in
the right breast.
In this image, I tried to portray the moment
of decision when, looking back at the lone
figure of Willard Richards beside the door,
the Prophet decided that if he got out of
the room the mobbers would follow and Richards
and Taylor would have a chance to survive.
So, you've got glass shattering.
You've got the sill kind of exploding.
You've got bits of glass on the floor, on
the sill, it's ripping through the curtains,
not a place you go if you think: "I want to
be safe."
It's exploding, it's shattering, it's—it's
where you want to be away from—you want
to be away from that window and you want to
be away from the door.
You're not escaping, you're going right into
the line of fire to go in front of the window.
So, the idea that he's thinking: "Hey, if
I get out this window I'll be safe,"—I don't
think he's thinking he's going to be safe.
I think he thinks: "If I can get out this
window, they'll chase me and they'll leave
Taylor and Richards alone, they'll have a
chance.
I'll draw their fire."
Willard Richards recounted, quote: "Joseph
attempted, as the last resort, to leap the
same window from whence Mr. Taylor fell, when
two balls pierced him from the door, and one
entered his right breast from without, and
he fell outward, exclaiming,--Oh Lord, my
God!"
I think it's one of the Psalms that starts
that way and there's a similar thing that
happens when Christ is on the cross.
When he says: "My God, My God, why hast thou
forsaken me?"
That's one of the Psalms.
The Psalm that says that talks about Christ
being crucified.
It's a prophetic Psalm that describes what's
happening to him and that he actually quotes
the Psalm to basically say to them: "You're
doing what the prophets said you would do."
I was trying to show a look of concern—concern
for the life of Willard Richards, seeing him
back there at the door and he's thinking,
in that moment, not of himself but of what
he can do to try and save the lives of his
brothers.
