I just returned from my summer vacation, part of which included a visit to Carthage Jail. When the sister missionary leading our tour told us that John Taylor's watch had stopped a bullet, I figured it was just one missionary repeating the traditional story. Later, in the bedroom where Joseph and Hyrum were killed, and John Taylor nearly-killed, we listened to an audio production that also told the traditional watch story. I realized that the issue of accuracy went beyond the missionary.
While John Taylor was recovering from his bullet wounds, received during the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, his family noticed a small hole cut in his pocket and damage to the face of the watch. He and his family came to believe that his watch had stopped a bullet, which not only saved him from another (perhaps fatal) wound but also prevented him from falling out of the window. The story has become a prominent part of the story of the martyrdom, and serves as a faith-promoting miracle in church history. It can be found in church publications as recent as the 2011 John Taylor manual. The problem is that it probably isn't true.
Historian Glen M. Leonard was the director of the Church History Museum for twenty six years. In his book, Nauvoo: A Place of Peace, a People of Promise (published by Deseret Book in 2002), Leonard wrote that after John Taylor was shot in the leg,
He collapsed on the wide sill, denting the back of his vest pocket watch. The force shattered the glass cover of the timepiece against his ribs and pushed the internal gear pins against the enamel face, popping out a small segment later mistakenly identified as a bullet hole.
The reason for the alternative story, simply put, is that the damage to the watch is not consistent with a bullet hitting it. Consider that Hyrum's watch was
much more damaged by a bullet that had passed part-way through his body. Other leading historians, such as Richard Bushman in
Rough Stone Rolling, have followed Leonard's lead [1].
This information has been known for over a decade, and was featured in a 2010 BYU Education Week presentation that was reported in a
Deseret News article, so why hasn't it penetrated the presentation at Carthage Jail (to say nothing of the average saint, or even the 2011 manual)? It's possible that I'm being too nit-picky, but how would you feel if you spent your mission repeating the story every day, only to find out later that it was known to be mistaken since you were at least 3 years old?
I am happy to report a couple of signs of progress. First, the new Institute manual, Foundations of the Restoration, omits the watch entirely in
its treatment of the martyrdom.
As the conflict at the doorway increased, John Taylor tried to escape the room through a window. As he attempted to leap out of the window, he was shot in the thigh from the doorway and was also shot by someone outside. He fell to the floor, and while attempting to get under the bed next to the window, he was severely wounded by three more shots.
Second, and more importantly, an article published last April in the history section of the Church's website,
John Taylor's Miracle, is devoted to the damage of Taylor's pocket watch. Although it bends over backwards to retain the miraculous in his survival, it does a nice job of gently putting the traditional story to rest--or at least legitimizing the alternative.
So now you don't have to cite some historian nobody cares about [2] when challenged on the revision of the pocket watch story. Instead you can cite the Church's own website. Maybe someone should tell the missionaries at Carthage [3].
Notes:
1. The LDS history blog
Juvenile Instructor has a nice summary of the issue, with great references that I am too lazy to reproduce here.
2. You know what I mean.
3. I didn't raise the issue when I was there because I was afraid I would sound like a jerk, and it wasn't until I returned home that I found the Church article. However, given the number of people who tour the jail, I find it hard to believe that nobody has ever called them on it.
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