The Fire Before the Fire

 

The 2nd Nauvoo Temple fire

We know about the fire that was set to the Nauvoo Temple after the Saints were forced to flee to the west, but apparently, at least according to William Clayton, there was another fire. It is believed that arson was the cause of the 2^nd fire. How did the first fire start?

a.      A wood stove drying baptismal clothing

b.      A wood stove heating the temple

c.       A wood stove cooking dinner

d.      A carelessly discarded match used to light a pipe

Yesterday’s answer:

(C)   Joe’s rats

The following is in reference to Saints coming up the Mississippi River in the Church owned steamboat Maid of Iowa.

   We were very much annoyed, also persecuted in towns along the river. News went ahead that a boat filled with Mormons was on its way to Nauvoo. Necessity caused the boat to land to get supplies. Men would rush onto the boat calling us foul names. “Joe’s rats,” was a common salutation we received; [at] Natchez, a town on the east side of the river, [someone] set the boat on fire, It was not discovered ‘till we had left the place over half an hour, and the side of the boat was ablaze, also several beds and bedding. The fire was extinguished in a short time, with the loss of several feather beds and bedding. It was a narrow escape for the crew and passengers, also the boat.

Autobiography of William Adams, typescript, HBLL., http://www.boap.org/