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Show Page 92 Smith wrote: "It was reported early in the morning that Elder Orson Pratt was missing. I caused the Temple hands and the principal men of the city to make search for him. After which, a meeting was called at the Grove, and I gave the public a general outline of John C. Bennett's conduct...Elder Pratt returned in the evening. 29 One of the temple hands, Alexander Neibaur, reported in his 30 journal that "all of the citizens turned out in search of him." Eb-enezer Robinson, publisher of the Times and Seasons, attributed Orson's actions to "insanity" brought on by the "secret teachings of the spiritual wife doctrine" and records that Orson was found that afternoon sitting 31 on a rock some five miles downriver from Nauvoo, having lost his hat. The fact that the entire town went in search for him testifies to the general consternation the people felt over Orson's state of mind, whether it could be ascribed to temporarity insanity or not. Joseph Smith told the Saints, "Orson Pratt has attempted to destroy himself." Family tradition renounces the story of attempted suicide, but perpetuates a legend that Orson did cut himself with a knife in order to write a letter 33 in blood to the Prophet Joseph Smith. Some evidence indicates that Orson was driven to this extremity by a public denunciation of Sarah Pratt made by Joseph Smith the day previous, A local tabloid, which consistently editorialized against the Mormons, so reported it: "In a public speech in Nauvoo on the 14th, Joe spoke of this lady - a woman whose reputation had been as fair as virtue could make it until she came in contact with him - in a manner only to be fitting the lowest and most degraded vagabond in existence...We do not know what course will be pursued by Mr. Pratt. If he sinks under the denunciations and schemes of Joe Smith - if he fails to defend the reputation of himself and of the woman he has vowed to protect...he will fix a stain upon his character which he can never wash out...." 34 tte ... IratL pT-2_hgV,1y-H'l'H not know himself what course to pursue. The |