Episode 152: FIELD TRIP: Coffin Canes

**Bryan Buchanan** (0:12)
When we left Brother Noble, Prophet Joseph went with those who accompanied him from the other side to the banks of the river to return home. While waiting for the ferry boat, a man of the world, knowing of the miracles which had been performed, came to him and asked him if he would not go and heal two twin children of his, about five months old, who were both lying sick, nigh unto death. They were some two miles from Montrose. Prophet said he could not go, but after pausing some time, he said he would send someone to heal them. And he turned to me and said, You go with the man and heal his children. He took a red silk handkerchief out of his pocket and gave it to me, and told me to wipe their faces with the handkerchief when I administered to them and they should be healed. He also said unto me, As long as you will keep that handkerchief, it shall remain a league between you and me. I went with the man and did as the prophet commanded me, and the children were healed. I have possession of the handkerchief unto this day. Wilford Woodruff.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (1:09)
What happens when objects become endowed with power? How does that even happen? Sounds like we need to do some digging. Hi, this is Lindsay Hansen Park.

**Bryan Buchanan** (1:29)
And this is Bryan Buchanan.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (1:30)
Bringing you the story of Mormonism from the shadow of the Everlasting Hills, straight out of Zion. This isn't your grandpa's Mormon history.

**Bryan Buchanan** (1:58)
This is the tale of Mormon saints and sinners from our roots until present day. Saddle up.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (2:03)
Gird your loins, lock your hearts, and pay your tithing, because we're bringing you the story of Mormonism in all its paradisiacal glory.

**Bryan Buchanan** (2:11)
It's the Sunstone History Podcast.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (2:34)
All right, lovely listeners. We're coming to you on site. If you can tell that our audio is a little off today, that's because we're on a field trip. We're on a field trip today. I'm here with Bryan in a room of people that shall not be named. And we're here today because we're doing a podcast on site. We got word of some really fun artifacts that we're going to discuss. So we're going to actually talk about the artifact. We're going to talk about the field trip that we're on today. And we're also going to show you a voice note from the owner of this artifact, which we're going to play in just a minute. And this is another one of those cases where one of our listeners has fun stuff and they find it in an attic or in a basement and then it lands in our lap. So before we get into what that is, Bryan gave you a little teaser on mystical objects. So you're going to hear from Jen Hile right now who's a listener, and this is the object we're talking about.

**Jennifer Hile** (3:35)
Hello, my name is Jennifer Hile. I'm going to be talking a little bit about a cane that's in my family. It's called the Joseph Smith cane. Tell you a little bit about myself and the cane. I grew up in Southern California. My mom and dad are both from Utah. My parents moved to Southern California for work. In the 1970s, when I was growing up, I was just a small child at that time. I was in elementary school in the 70s. My dad inherited a cane from his uncle, and he would show this cane to missionaries whenever they came over to our house. We had a lot of missionaries growing up coming over to our house. We lived in Southern California. We were very active in the church. So we had them come over probably on a weekly, maybe monthly basis. And every time they came over, my dad would take out this cane and he would show it to them. And the story of the cane goes like this. My great-great-grandfather is named James Bird, and he was a cabinet maker and a furniture maker, and he had a shop in Nauvoo, Illinois. When Joseph Smith and Hiram were killed, my great-great-grandfather built their actual caskets. And as he built the caskets, as the shavings from the wood fell to the floor, he would collect them. And then after he was done making the caskets for Joseph and Hiram, he made three canes from the shavings from the caskets. One of the canes he gave to Brigham Young, and the other cane he gave to Heber C. Kimball, and then the other cane he kept in the family. James Byrd gave that cane to his son Frederick Byrd, who then gave it to his son Charles Byrd. Charles Byrd gave it to his nephew, which is my dad, Montgomery Byrd, and my father gave me this cane a few years ago, about ten years ago, he gave me this cane.