a poor wayfaring man of grief
“A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief” was the favorite hymn of Joseph Smith, Jr. The hymn was introduced to the LDS movement by Apostle John Taylor, who learned the hymn in 1840 as a missionary in England. On the afternoon that Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were killed by a mob in prison in Carthage, Illinois, on June 27, 1844 (165 years ago) the Smiths had requested that Taylor, also in prison, sing the hymn twice.
Joseph Smith, Jr. and Martin Luther King, Jr. were respectively assassinated at the age of 38 and 39.
King was shot at 6:01 p.m. April 4, 1968 while he was standing on the second floor balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. The bullet entered through his right cheek smashing his jaw and then traveled down his spinal cord before lodging in his shoulder. According to Jesse Jackson, who was present, King’s last words on the balcony were to musician Ben Branch, who was scheduled to perform that night at an event King was attending: “Ben, make sure you play “Take My Hand, Precious Lord” in the meeting tonight. Play it real pretty.”
