On 24 June 1845 Deming was attacked by Samuel Marshall—a local politician and “a strong Anti-Mormon”—in Carthage. An unnamed correspondent of the Illinois State Register wrote that the attack was related to a dispute over taxes. However, Hiram Kimball and Daniel H. Wells, Nauvoo residents who were in Carthage at the time of the attack, said that Marshall had accused Deming of helping some church members avoid arrest the day before. Both accounts agree that Deming shot and killed Marshall in self-defense. Deming immediately surrendered to the authorities and wrote to church leaders in Nauvoo telling them that he would “rather die by mob violence than involve you or others friends in greater evils than the loss of my life.” Deming was indicted for murder but became sick and died in September before being brought to trial. Brigham Young and Jacob B. Backenstos considered him a martyr for the “defence of liberty and equal rights.” In September, Young declared to the Nauvoo Legion, “If you die— die like Deming in the defence of your country’s rights[.] when we meet Deming in another world he will [be] happy in the death he died.” (Gregg, History of Hancock County, Illinois, 339; Clayton, Journal, 24 June 1845; “Fatal Affray at Carthage,” Illinois State Register [Springfield], 4 July 1845, [2]; Miner R. Deming, Carthage, IL, to Willard Richards et al., 24 June 1845, Brigham Young Office Files, CHL; “Sheriff Deming,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 2 July 1845, [2]; Jacob B. Backenstos, Carthage, IL, to [Brigham Young et al.], 10 Sept. 1845, Brigham Young Office Files, CHL; Hosea Stout, Reminiscences and Journal, 17 Sept. 1845.)

Gregg, Thomas. History of Hancock County, Illinois, Together with an Outline History of the State, and a Digest of State Laws. Chicago: Charles C. Chapman, 1880.

Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.

Illinois State Register. Springfield, IL. 1839–1861.

Brigham Young Office Files, 1832–1878. CHL. CR 1234 1.

Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.

Stout, Hosea. Reminiscences and Journals, 1845–1869. Microfilm. CHL. Originals at Utah State Historical Society, Salt Lake City. Also available as On the Mormon Frontier: The Diary of Hosea Stout, 1844–1861, edited by Juanita Brooks, 2 vols. (1964. Reprint, Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press; Salt Lake City: Utah State Historical Society, 1982).