For a time Joseph clung to the hope that Bennett would be less dangerous in the church than out and, despite the fact that the apostles and High Council had excommunicated him on May 25, agreed to keep him in fellowship if he would make a public confession. In a dramatic session before one hundred brethren in the Masonic Hall on May 26, Bennett, weeping like a child, told a goodly portion of his misdeeds. Then to the astonishment and indignation of many present, Joseph pleaded mercy for him.
