Casey Childs: Artist Replicates Jail for New Painting

DAILY HERALD
By Cody Clark

Casey Childs, right, helps direct actors in a photo shoot
depicting the death of Joseph Smith at the Carthage Jail.

UTAH---Because there's no such thing as time travel -- you know, except for in the movies and on TV -- Casey Childs can't be quite as true to historical fact as he'd like to be in depicting the martyrdom of Joseph Smith, founder and first president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He visited Carthage Jail in Illinois to get a firsthand sense -- as well as firsthand photos -- of the site where Smith was killed by a mob of his detractors numbering about 150 men on June 27, 1844. The diptych, which began as a personal project for Childs, 38, was fueled by his memories of attending LDS Church primary meetings (the portion of LDS Sunday worship devoted to children) as a boy in Wyoming and seeing pictures of the door to Smith's room at Carthage Jail (now a historic site owned by the LDS Church), with the wood marred by a large bullet hole. [link]