In their initiation into the Church, the novitiates are invested with a mysterious garment called the endowment robe, to which many virtues are ascribed. These curious robes may be seen on the clothes-line in the afternoon of every washing-day, and consist of a white garment, made up of common shirting, with strips and crosses of scarlet stitched in, emblematical of some of their temple mysteries. It is believed that Doctor Richards had on one of those robes, and thereby escaped unhurt at the Carthage Jail; and that Joseph and Hyrum neglected to put them on, and therefore lost their lives. The person thus invested is supposed to be safe against the arts of the devil to bring harm upon him, and in a condition to escape danger from shipwreck, disease, bullets, &c. Some of them are so imbued with this idea, that in changing the garment, they will keep one leg in the old one until they invest the other with the new, lest the devil or some of his imps should obtain a temporary advantage.