declared the Expositor to be a “public nuisance,” ordering the Nauvoo Legion to destroy the paper’s press – an unconstitutional act beyond the authority of the mayor and council of Nauvoo.
This moment marks a critical escalation—Joseph Smith and the Nauvoo civic leadership weaponized the city's military's to suppress people, crossing from legal authority into the realm of extrajudicial action
Hyrum Smith was shot and killed almost instantly, while Joseph Smith, defending himself with a pistol that his follower Cyrus Wheelock had previously smuggled into the jail, managed to wound three of his assailants before being struck by several gunshots and then fell from a second-storey window to the ground
The brutality of this murder galvanized the Mormon community and intensified tensions, transforming political conflict into a profound act of martyrdom that further fractured local trust.
Jolliet’s questionable claims were later re-futed by La Salle, who in his zeal to discredit Jolliet alsomade equally insincere claim
Shows the core rivalry—both explorers exaggerated or distorted facts to gain political and economic advantage in the Illinois Country.