James Head's torment after the Carthage martyrdom
Published October 5, 2026 at 2:55 AM
Contributed by
Millennial Star Research
James Head, one of the murderers at Carthage Jail, suffered from constant gloom and guilt after the event, frequently declaring that he saw the two martyrs, Joseph and Hyrum Smith, always before him.
In Their Own Words
“James Head, of McComb, was also one of the murderers at the Carthage Jail; he was heard by Captain Lawn and others to boast of it afterwards, and Captain Lawn drew a pistol and chased him; but he ran away. He was always gloomy and troubled from the time he helped to murder the Smiths, and frequently declared that he saw the two martyrs always before him! He had no peace. — Millennial Star 38:11”
Sources & References
The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star (Manchester, later Liverpool, England, May 1840–1970), 13 March 1876 (Vol. 38, No. 11). https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_the-latter-day-saints-millennial-star_1876-03-13_38_11 (account extracted verbatim from the issue's Internet Archive OCR text; research confidence: high)
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