Divine light protection for Joseph Smith's body at the Carthage Jail

Following the assassination of Joseph Smith at the Carthage Jail on June 27, 1844, his body was dragged and placed against the south side of the jail's well curb. According to the eyewitness account published in 1845 by William M. Daniels—who claimed to have observed the events surrounding the murders—a ruffian approached the Prophet's body with a bowie-knife, intending to sever his head. At that critical moment, a sudden and brilliant light, described as being of such intensity that it defied all earthly power of description, burst from the heavens directly between the Prophet's remains and his attackers. The impact of this supernatural manifestation was immediate: the ruffian's arm holding the knife was rendered powerless, and four other men who had been preparing to fire their muskets were struck motionless, standing like marble statues and unable to move a single limb. This sudden divine intervention caused the remaining members of the mob to retreat in terror. Daniels's testimony, which was published shortly before the 1845 trial of the accused assassins, became a point of significant contention during the legal proceedings, as the defense utilized these extraordinary claims to attempt to discredit Daniels’s reliability as a prosecution witness.

Fuller account of this event (in the witness’s own words):

The mob, with the exception of the four who had fired, now stood in the rear, and the four who had fired, were standing by the well-curb, when Col. Levi Williams, who was in command, rode up to the jail, and seeing the Prophet's body, ordered a ruffian, who was standing by, to 'shoot him.' The ruffian raised his musket, and he leveled it at the Prophet's body; but before he could fire, a light, so powerful, and so brilliant, that it baffled all earthly power of description, burst from the heavens, and fell upon the spot where the Prophet's body lay. The ruffian's arm, that held the musket, fell powerless; the muskets of the four, who fired, fell to the ground, and they all stood like marble statues, not having the power to move a single limb of their bodies. The mob, who were in the rear, were struck with terror, and fled in the greatest confusion.