March 12th 1854 In company with &
I called upon President at his
room as He was not able to get out
& conversed with him concerning the buriel of the corps
of President He Advised us to bury
him at 2 oclock I went to meeting in the morning at
the and Preached to
the People concerning executing the Law of God upon
all persons who broke their covenants.
We met at President Richards House at 2 oclock to
[FIGURE] attend to the burial of the body of Wilard Richards
President Young was not able to be present with
us President took charge of the ceremony
G. A. Smith made the Prayer. He prayed earnestly
for President Young Heber C Kimball & the Person who
should be chosen as the successer of Willard Richards
Also for the Twelve Apostles that they might prove
true to their integrity as brother Richards had done
even to the end He prayed for his wives & children that
the spirit of Willard might rest upon his oldest son that He might stand at the Head of his fathers House
in dignity & honour He prayed for all his brothers & sisters
might that they all might carry out the counsel of their
father He prayed for all the relatives of Brother Richards
& in fine for all the church & Kingdom of God
Elder reported his prayer so I do not enter into the
particulars of it. At the close of the prayer the p[r]ossesion
was formed Brother Kimball & Bishop ,
walked forward of the corps & the quorum
of the Twelve Apostles walked by the side of the corps
& the wives & Children & relatives followed the corps
& the p[r]ossession formed behind them & while going to
the grave two bands of music played a solom death
march after the corps was lowered into the vault Elder
deliverd a short address upon the occasion
& the remarks were vary appropriate He said he was the
first person that had died a Natural death either from
the first Presidency or quorum of the Twelve Apostles
all that had died before had been martered & that Broth-
er Richards was in with & when they
were martered He said Brother Richard had prove himself
true & faithful untill death He was a man of the strictest
integrity & had now gone home to meet Joseph & Hiram
[on] the other side of the veil. many good remarks were made
upon the occasion & reported By brother Watt. While the
remarks were being made the times which I had spent
with Brother Richa[r]ds in a foreign country came to my
mind & I felt solumn & lonesome under it. After the
burial I called upon the family & conversed with them
I Attended the prayer meeting with the Twelve & then with
with Brother Kimball & to Dr Richards
House & spent the evening with the family & Brother Kimball
conversed with them till 9 oclock & gave them much
counsel the following are some of the sentiments & council given
