Miraculous protection of John Taylor and Willard Richards during the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith

On June 27, 1844, at Carthage Jail, Joseph Smith jumped from a window while being fired upon by a mob. By doing so, he acted as a diversion that drew the mob's fire and saved the lives of John Taylor and Willard Richards, who were in the room upstairs. Shortly after the tragedy, a witness in a testimony meeting claimed that when one of the assassins attempted to decapitate the Prophet's fallen body, a blinding flash of lightning paralyzed the ruffian, causing the mob to flee in terror.

In his own journal, Willard Richards recorded a conversation that took place on June 25, 1844, shortly after the jailer George Stigall requested the prisoners move into the 'criminal's cell' for their own safety. When Joseph Smith asked Richards if he would accompany him into the cell, Richards famously replied, 'Brother Joseph, you did not ask me to cross the river with you—you did not ask me to come to Carthage. You did not ask me to come to jail with you—and do you think I would forsake you now?' He then declared his willingness to face death in Joseph's stead if the Prophet were condemned.