At the time of the martyrdom of the Prophet, the Twelve Apostles were nearly all in the Eastern States preaching the gospel and promoting the candidacy for the presidency of the United States. Excepting of course Elders John Taylor and Willard Richards who were with the Prophet and Patriarch in the jail
Orson Hyde earlier in the day was in company with Elders Brigham Young, Wilford Woodruff and others, he was in the hall occupied by the saints in Boston, examining maps, and designating or pointing out each man's district or field of labor. He felt very heavy and sorrowful in spirit, and knew not the cause, but felt no heart to look on the maps. He retired to the further end of the hall alone, and walked the floor; tears ran down his face. He never felt so before, and knew no reason why he should feel so then.
George A. Smith was riding with Elder Crandall Dunn in Michigan, and felt unusually cast down and depressed in spirits. About five o'clock he repaired to an oak grove, and called upon the Lord, endeavoring to break the spell of horror which had dominion over his mind. He remained there a long time without finding any relief, and then went back and went to bed; he could not sleep, but spent the night in a series of miserable thoughts and reflections. Once it seemed to him that some fiend whispered in his ear, 'Joseph and Hyrum are dead; ain't you glad of it?'
Heber C. Kimball and Lyman Wight were in Salem, Massachusetts, when the dreadful news came. It struck Heber to the heart. He tried hard not to believe. Heber recorded in his journal that the Apostles generally, traveling in different parts, on the night of the assassination had a severe mental shock and felt very mournful as though he had lost some friend, and knew not the cause, for which they could not account until the terrible news reached their ears (Life of Heber C. Kimball by Orson F. Whitney).
Wilford Woodruff arrived in Boston on the 26th of June. On the 27th, the most sorrowful day of this dispensation, he was in company with President Brigham Young. Of this day he subsequently wrote: "The day of the martyrdom, Brigham Young and myself were seated in the railroad station at the time Joseph and Hyrum were assassinated. This was June the 27th, at quarter past five in the evening, at Carthage, Illinois. It was half-past six in Boston. As we sat in the station, Brigham was very sorrowful and depressed in spirit, not knowing the cause. This was the time when Satan struck the heaviest blow he had struck since the Son of God was crucified. We well knew afterwards why all the Twelve, wherever they were on that day and at that time, were, like the president of our Quorum, sorrowful, and burdened in spirit without knowing why (Life & Labors of Wilford Woodruff by Matthias Cowley)."
Parley P. Pratt wrote, �A day or two previous to this circumstance I had been constrained by the Spirit to start prematurely for home, without knowing why or wherefore; and on the same afternoon I was passing on a canal boat near Utica, New York, on my way to Nauvoo. My brother, William Pratt, being then on a mission in the same State (New York), happened, providentially, to take passage on the same boat. As we conversed together on the deck, a strange and solemn awe came over me, as if the powers of hell were let loose. I was so overwhelmed with sorrow I could hardly speak; and after pacing the deck for some time in silence, I turned to my brother William and exclaimed��Brother William, this is a dark hour; the powers of darkness seem to triumph, and the spirit of murder is abroad in the land; and it controls the hearts of the American people, and a vast majority of them sanction the killing of the innocent. My brother, let us keep silence and not open our mouths. If you have any pamphlets or books on the fulness of the gospel lock them up; show them not, neither open your mouth to the people; let us observe an entire and solemn silence, for this is a dark day, and the hour of triumph for the powers of darkness. O, how sensible I am of the spirit of murder which seems to pervade the whole land.� This was June 27, 1844, in the afternoon, and as near as I can judge, it was the same hour that the Carthage mob were shedding the blood of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, and John Taylor, near one thousand miles distant. My brother bid me farewell somewhere in Western New York, he being on his way to a conference in that quarter, and passing on to Buffalo I took steamer for Chicago, Illinois.
�The steamer touched at a landing in Wisconsin, some fifty or sixty miles from Chicago, and here some new passengers came on board and brought the news of the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith. Great excitement prevailed on board, there being a general spirit of exultation and triumph at this glorious news, as it was called, much the same as is generally shown on the first receipt of the news of a great national victory in time of war.
�Many passengers now gathered about me and tauntingly inquired what the Mormons would do now, seeing their Prophet and leader was killed.
�To these taunts and questions I replied, that they would continue their mission and spread the work he had restored, in all the world. Observing that nearly all the prophets and Apostles who were before him had been killed, and also the Saviour of the world, and yet their death did not alter the truth nor hinder its final triumph . . .
�During the two or three days I spent in travelling between Chicago and Peoria I felt so weighed down with sorrow and the powers of darkness that it was painful for me to converse or speak to any one, or even to try to eat or sleep. I really felt that if it had been my own family who had died, and our beloved Prophet been spared alive, I could have borne it, and the blow would have fallen on me with far less weight. I had loved Joseph with a warmth of affection indescribable for about fourteen years. I had associated with him in private and in public, in travels and at home, in joy and sorrow, in honor and dishonor, in adversity of every kind. With him I had lain in dungeons and in chains; and with him I had triumphed over all our foes in Missouri, and found deliverance for ourselves and people in Nauvoo, where we had reared a great city. But now he was gone to the invisible world, and we and the Church of the Saints were left to mourn in sorrow and without the presence of our beloved founder and Prophet (Autobiography. of Parley P. Pratt)."
Amasa Lyman was in the city of Cincinnati, and recorded that depression of spirit mentioned by his brethren.
No mention has been found of the experiences of William Smith (who later apostatized in 1845), Orson Pratt (who had just been rebaptized the previous January and reinstated into the Quorum), or John E. Page. (who was excommunicated in 1846).
