of the house, and the Prophet used obscene language to her," claiming that he had found John C. Bennett in bed with her. According to Bennett, another incident where Joseph Smith tried to kiss Sarah caused her to tell her husband about the whole incident. Pratt was torn between believing his wife or Smith; he wrote, "My sorrows are greater than I can bear!" Pratt then took Sarah's side and confronted Smith, who denied Sarah's allegation and responded that she was John C. Bennett's lover. The resulting estrangement between Smith and Pratt, who stood by Sarah in preference to the denials of Smith, led to Smith warning his disciple that "if [Pratt] did believe his wife and follow her suggestions he would go to hell". In the local and Mormon press, Sarah Pratt was accused of having had an adulterous relationship, not with Smith, but with John C. Bennett, and several affidavits were printed in local and pro-Mormon Nauvoo publications, including the leading councils of the church and from others such as Jacob B. Backenstos, a relative of the sheriff of Hancock County, though many of these allegations are believed to be falsified. Orson Pratt attempted to commit suicide in 1842. At the time, apostle Wilford Woodruff stated that "Dr. John Cook Bennett was the ruin of Orson Pratt." A public meeting was held where a resolution supporting Smith's character was proposed; Pratt stated that he was unable to support the resolution, to which Smith replied, "Have you personally a knowledge of any immoral act in me toward the female sex, or in any other way?" Pratt answered no, but he became estranged from the church and Smith. Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and George A. Smith spent several days trying to get Pratt to believe Smith, but Pratt continued to side with his wife. Finally, the three apostles excommunicated Pratt from the church. According to Van Wagoner's article "Sarah M Pratt: The Shaping of an Apostate", Sarah was not excommunicated at this time. Additionally, The Joseph Smith Papers, Documents found there was no record of ecclesiastical action taken against Sarah in January 1843. Both Orson and Sarah were rebaptized by Joseph Smith when they returned to the church in 1843. Orson did not ever consider himself truly excommunicated, and neither, it seems, did Smith. Bennett claimed that Pratt and his wife were planning to leave Nauvoo and help him