by a mob on June 27, 1844, while being held in Carthage Jail, in Illinois. Samuel was attacked by mobbers, while traveling toward Carthage after hearing rumors of trouble, and is said to have developed some kind of stitch in his side evading them, which may have contributed to his subsequent death. After evading the mobbers, he traveled to the jail (said to have been the first Latter-day Saint after the mobbers left), and retrieved his brothers' bodies. Some church members assumed that Samuel would succeed Joseph as the president of the Latter Day Saint church (see lineal succession (Latter Day Saints)). However, Samuel fell ill shortly after their deaths and died just one month later. He was buried at the Smith Family Cemetery. Smith's official cause of death was "bilious fever", which is an archaic and inexact term for any disease accompanied by a fever and the evacuation of bile, such as typhoid fever or malaria. Lucy Mack Smith later suggested Smith had become ill because of the fatigue and shock occasioning by his experience of the death of his brothers. Smith's brother, William, later stated that he had good reason to believe that Smith was poisoned by Hosea Stout on orders from Brigham Young and Willard Richards. In a meeting on July 10, 1844, Smith had been in a meeting with Richards in which Smith reminded the group that he was Joseph's designee as president if both Joseph and Hyrum had died. Richards, however, had wanted to delay the decision on succession until Brigham Young and other prominent missionaries had returned to Nauvoo. Hosea Stout was suspected in part because, as reported by Smith's wife, Stout had been administering a white powder to Smith daily as treatment for his illness. Smith's mother does not appear to have considered him to have been murdered, and though his sole remaining brother, William Smith, later charged Richards and Stout with foul play, he did not bring forward his own evidence in support of that accusation until 1892. William Smith's charges were not pursued by legal authorities. See also Latter Day Saint martyrs Notes References LaRene Porter Gaunt and Robert A. Smith, "Samuel H. Smith: Faithful Brother of Joseph and Hyrum," Ensign, August 2008, pp. 44–51 Smith, Alison Moore. "Samuel Harrison Smith: His Legacy," Samuel Harrison Smith. Samuel Harrison Smith Foundation. . Further reading . . . . 1808 births 1844 deaths