William S. Berry: A Missionary Martyr at Cane Creek, Tennessee (1884)

William S. Berry was a Latter-day Saint missionary from Utah who, together with his companion Elder John H. Gibbs, was killed by a mob on August 10, 1884, at Cane Creek, Tennessee. The missionaries had gathered at the home of a member, James Condor, when the mob attacked; Elder Gibbs and Elder Berry, two members of the Condor family, and the leader of the mob himself were killed. The mission president, who came to recover the bodies, disguised himself to retrieve them at great peril. Elder Berry's death is counted among the latter-day martyrs for the faith. His sealed testimony is a faith-promoting witness that the cause of the Restoration has required, in every generation, those willing to lay down their lives for the testimony they carry, and that the blood of the martyrs, ancient and modern, becomes the seed of the Church.

Fuller account of this event (as retold in Short film on ‘Cane Creek massacre’ draws attention to early Latter-day Saint tragedy in Tennessee – Deseret News):

Hymns had just finished being sung at the home of James Conder on Sunday, Aug. 10, 1884, when 12 to 15 masked men ran into the home’s front yard from the surrounding woods. The mob killed four people: two missionaries (John H. Gibbs and William S. Berry) and two local church members (Martin Conder and J.R. Hutson). A member of the mob, believed to have been the leader, David Hinson, was also killed.