Description

“I’ll See You All Damned First”

On May 6, 1842, an unknown assailant crept up to an open window and shot former Missouri Governor Lilburn W. Boggs four times in the head. Porter Rockwell was accused of the crime with the Prophet Joseph Smith being charged as an accessory before the fact. Warrants were issued for the arrest of both men and both were forced into hiding.

Porter maintained his innocence, saying, “I’ve never shot at anybody. If I shoot, they get shot. He’s still alive, isn’t he?”

Porter had been in Independence at the time of the shooting and when he heard of it, he went east. He was discovered in St. Louis, arrested and returned to Jackson County. The family records state,

Without even the pretense of a fair trial, [he]was clapped into irons and incarcerated in a vile dungeon for nine months. At one time his feet were manacled together and his arms chained to his feet, forcing him to remain for a long period in this cramped condition unable to sit up straight. He was permitted a little dirty straw for a bed, but no bedding and no fire in very cold weather. For eighteen days at a time, he states he shook with cold. After he made an attempt to escape, his treatment was still more severe. His food was of the coarsest, and if he failed to eat any of it, it was served to him at the next meal. On one occasion Sheriff Reynolds said: “We know the Prophet has great confidence in you. Allure him to a place where we can arrest him and you shall have your freedom and any pile of money you name.” Porter Rockwell, weak and so emaciated that he could hardly stand, never faltered in his fidelity to his Prophet friend. His eagle eyes flashed and he blurted out in defiance, “I’ll see you all damned first, and then I won’t.”

Porter died June 8, 1878, claiming at the time that he was the most senior member of the Church still alive. At his funeral Elder Joseph F. Smith of the Twelve stated,

“They say he was a murderer; if he was he was the friend of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, and he was faithful to them, and to his covenants, and he has gone to Heaven . . . clothed with immortality and eternal life, and crowned with all glory which belongs to a departed saint.”

Source: https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/memories/KWVQ-H78

https://www.ldsliving.com/the-gunslinging-general-authority-who-went-to-prison-on-the-prophets-orders-7-unbelievable-facts-about-porter-rockwell/s/77142