Account of the death of Moses Horne

Contributed By

Cache Christensen

Description

Moses Horne died on 14 March 1845 at Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois; accidentally killed while blasting at a stone quarry for the building of the Nauvoo Temple. Brother A. P. Rockwood recorded the following:

"For the three and a half years that I have been in charge of the Temple quarry, with from twenty to one hundred and fifty hands, Brother Moses Horn has been the first person that has met with an accident by blasting. During this time there has been burned, according to my judgment, about one hundred casks of powder. Brother Horn had retired to the usual distance while blasting; he was struck on the head by a stone weighing one and a half pounds which fractured his skull; we immediately

conveyed him home, sent for Dr. Bernhisel and other physicians, who pronounced the wound mortal: he died in three hours.2'"

He was buried on 16 March 1845 at Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois; Heber C. Kimball preached at his funeral.3 Another description of the circumstances of Moses' death is found in the Bishops Ledger, Tithing Record Book, 1846-1852, LDS Church Archives.:

Moses was working on the Nauvoo temple as a tithing contribution. Labor tithing—donating one day of work in ten—was contributed by those constructing the temple and was calculated at a differential rate depending on their particular expertise or craft.

"Received of Moses Horn three days labor at eight and a half shillings per day = $3.00. As per A. P. Rockwood's timebook. In full on his tithing to the time of his death, which occurred on the 14th day of March 1845 whilst working on the stone quarry. His death was occasioned by the fall of a small piece of rock about the size of a hen's egg, which was forced into the air by the blast, and at the same time he was sixteen rods and one foot from the place of the blast. This happened at twenty minutes past three o'clock in the afternoon, and he expired the same evening at five minutes before six o'clock P.M. He had been a member of the Church about one year, and was greatly lamented [by] his widow and three children."

Bishops Ledger, Tithing Record Book, 1846-1852, LDS Church Archives.4

The only fatal accident occurred during the Temple's construction when Moses Horn was struck on the head by a stone and killed, while blasting rock in the Temple Stone Quarry. (Clayton, "Nauvoo Temple History Journal," pp. 32-33.)

1. Transcribed and edited by Melville Bradford Cook, Meduncook and Friendship Maine Records, Pg 79 1835 31 Oct.

2. Unknown author History of the Church, Chapter XXVIII.

3. Unknown author History of the Church, Chapter XXIX.

4. Richard E. Bennett, Mormon Exodus 1846-1848.

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