The Crown of My Life

Historians are reliant upon a count recorded by others who witnessed firsthand the grief of Emma Smith and her children. B.W. Richmond was a paying guest staying at the mansion house, and he wrote about finding Julia and Joseph III on the floor with Alexander and Frederick. He said they were leaning over them mingling their grief in one wild scream of childish despair. And then he peered into the room where Emma sat in a chair, her face covered by her hands as she sobbed uncontrollably.