no sympathy for the Mormons were appalled by Boggs's Executive Order and the treatment of the Mormons by the mobs. One contemporary critic of the Mormons wrote: Mormonism is a monstrous evil; and the only place where it ever did or ever could shine, this side of the world of despair, is by the side of the Missouri mob. LeSueur notes that, along with other setbacks, Boggs's mishandling of the Mormon conflict left him "politically impotent" by the end of his term. Boggs assassination attempt On May 6, 1842, Boggs was shot in the head at his home three blocks from Temple Lot. Boggs survived, but Mormons came under immediate suspicion especially of the alleged failed assassination attempt by Orrin Porter Rockwell of the Mormon Danites. Sheriff J.H. Reynolds discovered a revolver at the scene, still loaded with buckshot. He surmised that the perpetrator had fired upon Boggs and lost his firearm in the night when the weapon recoiled due to its unusually large shot. The gun was found to have been stolen from a local shopkeeper, who identified "that hired man of Ward's" as the most likely culprit. Reynolds determined the man in question was Porter Rockwell, a close associate of Joseph Smith. However, Reynolds was unable to capture Rockwell. John C. Bennett, a disaffected Mormon, reported that Smith had offered a cash reward to anyone who would assassinate Boggs, and that Smith had admitted to him that Rockwell had done the deed. Joseph Smith vehemently denied Bennett's account, speculating that Boggs—no longer governor, but campaigning for state senate—was attacked by an election opponent. One historian notes that Governor Boggs was running for election against several violent men, all capable of the deed, and that there was no particular reason to suspect Rockwell of the crime. Other historians are convinced that Rockwell was involved in the shooting. Whatever the case, the following year Rockwell was arrested, tried, and acquitted of the attempted murder, although most of Boggs' contemporaries remained convinced of his guilt. A grand jury was unable to find sufficient evidence to indict him, convinced in part by his reputation as a deadly gunman and his statement that he "never shot at anybody, if I shoot they get shot!... He's still alive, ain't he?" See also Border Ruffian Illinois Mormon War (1844–1845) Latter Day Saint martyrs List of conflicts in the United States Missouri Executive Order 44 (1838