Parley P. Pratt's assassination in Arkansas

Parley P. Pratt, a prominent leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was traveling through the Indian Territory and Arkansas in 1857 to meet Eleanor McComb McLean, his twelfth plural wife. McLean’s estranged husband, Hector McLean, pursued them, accusing Pratt of seducing Eleanor and stealing their children. Hector McLean secured warrants in Arkansas, leading to the apprehension of both Eleanor and Pratt by authorities. While Eleanor was released by Judge John Ogden in Van Buren, Arkansas, Pratt’s trial was postponed due to intense local hostility. After being held overnight, Pratt was secretly released the next morning. Hector McLean, learning of the release, pursued Pratt on horseback. He overtook Pratt at the Zealey Wynn property in Fine Springs, about twelve miles from Van Buren, where he shot and stabbed him. Pratt succumbed to his wounds about two hours later. In his final hours, he provided a dying declaration to witness John A. Peel, affirming his unwavering faith in the Gospel and requesting to be buried in Utah. Despite these wishes, Pratt was interred at the Wynn Cemetery in Arkansas, where his burial site remains a point of historical significance.

Fuller account of this event (as retold in Steven Pratt, 'Eleanor McLean and the Murder of Parley P. Pratt,' BYU Studies 15, no. 2 (Winter 1975): 225–254.):

On the 13th of May, 1857, Parley P. Pratt was murdered near Van Buren, Arkansas, by Hector McLean, the estranged husband of Eleanor McComb McLean, whom Pratt had married as a plural wife. Pratt had been traveling with Eleanor, who was attempting to recover her children from her former husband. McLean had pursued them, and after a series of legal maneuvers in Arkansas, Pratt was arrested. Although a judge in Van Buren eventually ordered Pratt's release, McLean followed him as he left the area. McLean overtook Pratt at the farm of a man named Zealey Wynn, about twelve miles from Van Buren. McLean shot Pratt and then stabbed him. Pratt died shortly thereafter. Before he expired, he gave a statement to a man named John A. Peel, saying: 'I am dying a martyr to the faith. I want to be buried in Utah, and I want my body taken to Salt Lake City, and I want my people to know that I died as I lived, a firm believer in the truth of the Gospel.'

At his trial in Van Buren, Elder Pratt was tried on the trumped-up charge and proved innocent in the fullest degree, and given his liberty. The judge who tried his case later told a relative that he had never experienced so sublime a spirit and influence as he felt in Parley Pratt's presence, and declared: "If there is such a thing as an Apostle of Jesus Christ, Parley P. Pratt is such a man." When he was discharged, friends who knew the bitterness of his enemies felt sure he would be assassinated and offered him weapons of defense; he refused them, answering that the end was near, and that his mission was peace on earth and good will to man. (As recorded by Matthias F. Cowley in 1902 and retold in the Religious Studies Center's Prophets and Apostles of the Last Dispensation.)