from wikipedia
"Smith called a meeting of the City Council, where "he proceeded to put the Expositor and its editors on trial, as if that body was of a judicial instead of a legislative character." The trial "lasted all of Saturday, June 8, and a part of Monday, June 10."[11]
After the city council declared the Expositor a public nuisance, Smith issued two orders for the Expositor's destruction.[12] City Marshall John P. Greene, accompanied by a posse of several hundred, carried out the destruction."
Was Joseph wrong? yep
I think its a human reaction. Wanting to see the Trib fail isn't so bad but I understand that when you humanize the individuals who wrote for the Trib it is sad to see them lose a job.